Southwest Missouri town's barbecue honors first retailer to reo

STOCKTON, Mo. -- As bundled-up locals gingerly stepped across slush-slickened sidewalks Friday morning, the unmistakable aroma of fire-kissed burgers blended with falling flurries in the winter air.

On an otherwise questionable day for a barbecue, a small community once left for dead by the weather gave its townspeople reason to revel in a new beginning.

"Any day a business destroyed by the tornado opens here in Stockton is a good day to celebrate," lifetime resident John Rummel said. "No matter what the weather is like."

Nine months after this community's town square was nearly wiped out during the May 4 tornadoes, city residents and leaders welcomed the first of many ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

Pharmacist Ray Zumwalt, the first retailer to reopen following the storm, greeted neighbors as they passed him on the way to a vacant storefront where burgers sizzled over open flames.

"Congratulations, Ray," residents said, shaking the proud businessman's hand.

"Looks good, Ray," another said passing along the corner building's entrances.

With each compliment, Zumwalt, who first opened in 1979, politely responded with a smile and a thank you, relishing just how far his corner of the square has come since the storms.

"Every day, all of us come to work and feel a little more comfortable," Zumwalt said.

Although open since late last year, the brick-front building that houses Zumwalt Pharmacy, Virgil Beasley's real estate business and income tax service and the offices of Cedar County's weekly newspaper welcomed longtime residents and first-time visitors alike during Friday's celebration.

Each day, finishing touches are put on each of the newly opened businesses, two of which lost their original office space when the destruction rolled through.

Earlier this week, framed art prints and a wooden canoe oar were hung on Zumwalt's newly finished walls, sharing space with sports memorabilia and business awards that still show the effects of being rescued from the debris left by the May storms.

Beasley's offices have new furniture and new wall-hangings. Other than a weathered desk nameplate, everything Beasley salvaged from his old location is stored in the basement.

"Quite frankly, those things bother me," said Beasley, whose broken left foot is still propped up in a wheelchair he will need for the next nine months.

"I don't like to see the resemblance of the tornado. Every morning I'd drive into town, I would shed a few tears. It was devastating."

The months since the tornado haven't been easy, not for Stockton nor for Beasley.

Less than a month after the twister destroyed his offices on the square, Beasley broke his foot in four places while attempting to move a 6-foot table from the rubble left by the storm.

For a month, Beasley didn't realize his foot was broken. It wasn't until he had it X-rayed that he learned the severity of the injury. Two months of bed rest were required, keeping the longtime businessman from seeing the square's rebuilding for himself.

"It's been a long, hard road," said Beasley, who remains busy these days finishing tax returns for his long list of customers. "There were a lot of highs and lows in a project this size.

"The highs were seeing this come up, but the lows were the cost."

All told, Beasley and Zumwalt -- who own the building jointly -- have put more than $1 million into the new strip center that still has one vacant spot. Since construction began last summer, the two business owners have dealt with contractors and construction workers, plumbers and painters -- all focused on the day that one of the town square's four corners would again be open for business.

"It just seems like a very slow process," Beasley said. "It just takes a lot of time to accomplish what we have.

"We just wanted ... to get something built back and keep up the enthusiasm."

It's working. Across Missouri 32, steel girders stand in place, framing what within months will be Mid-Missouri Bank. On the southeast corner stand four walls of a building that will soon include law offices and a title company.

Around Stockton, excitement about the town's rebuilding is generated by the thought of things slowly getting back to normal.

"For a long time, I thought, 'Oh boy -- this town is going to die,' a lot of people did," longtime resident Dean Kenney said. "We knew we could either come down or build back."

In November, Gov. Bob Holden delivered more than $2 million in grants to help the town rebuild. That assistance, coupled with long-term planning provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has helped moved Stockton along.

Construction on the square continues, following a city-approved plan that will give the businesses that rebuild here a sense of continuity. New retailers, local leaders said, will build off the effort started by Zumwalt and Beasley.

"I don't think people really cared how (new businesses) looked, they just wanted to see the square back in business," Stockton City Councilman Richard Sanstra said.

Despite the recent string of winter weather that has halted new projects, progress at the corner that serves as the town square's centerpiece continues.

With each retailer that returns, residents begin to again feel whole.

"We've worked hard to get here," Stockton mayor Ralph Steele said. "The whole town has. But you can tell people are happy to be here. These people are proud of what's going on."