Jack and Patti Blackburn held quite the plans for December 11.
An active and popular “Santa Claus” for Princeton over the last four years, Jack had booked engagements that morning for Adams Breezy Hill Farm Restaurant and Gather On Main before embracing the main role in the annual Christmas parade. Naturally, Patti would be along.
But the night of December 10 altered the agenda, when an EF4 tornado rolled through Country Club Hills, Deerfield and Greenspoint — devastating several homes in its path.
The Blackburns lived in Country Club Hills, just to the left-center of the tornado’s eye, and suffered a complete loss of their home.
A specialist for Atmos Energy and with the company for more than 44 years, Jack — who retires this Friday — immediately had to go to work that terrible night, though not in the way one might think.
Rather than get called as emergency response, he and Patti were in the thick of it. With the storm soon gone, about 15 seconds of cataclysmic damage, the smell of natural gas emanated from a neighbor’s home.
Jack had the tools, and was able to respond.
When he and Patti returned to their own rubble, and rain falling all around, there sat Jack’s Santa suit in an extra bedroom — virtually unharmed and inexplicably dry.
Dealing with their own personal difficulties, Jack and Patti had every reason to pause the “Santa Claus” experience for Princeton — which included more booked engagements the weekend of December 18, as well as before, during and after Christmas.
The Blackburns chose quite the opposite route, instead using the opportunity for positive outreach, and perhaps their own personal comfort and peace.
The pair originally had plans to drive around their neighborhood in a golf cart to deliver cookies, but instead took those materials to First Baptist Church and delivered them with presents. They held court at Gather On Main and the Princeton Country Club, despite their sapped strength. And they’ve still been doing some family photos — with another session still booked and awaiting Emly & Grissin Donaldson with new baby, Henry.
All of this for a guy who, less than a decade ago, wasn’t even interested in playing Santa Claus.
On January 4, the Blackburns said contractors finished hauling off what was once their beautiful home, and in the meantime, they’ve been staying near Prizer Point. Soon, they’ll be moving into an apartment in Eddyville’s Lakeland Funeral Home.
They’re going to rebuild in the same spot. They liked their neighbors, their friends and their subdivision. Their home. Jack said the city and the contractors have been “nothing but wonderful” in the rebuilding process.
But most of all, they like playing Santa — a Christmas miracle all on its own — and he’ll be back, too.
