May 28—The United Methodist Church conference in Missouri offers a sermon series for pastors. One series is about hospitality; nice things to do for people to make them feel better or simply to provide.

I came across it at a sad time.

One of the deaths in the Greenfield tornado last week was Pam Wiggins. Her husband, Dean, was another. If it was not for Pam and her hospitality, I don’t know how my wife Jennifer and I could have been comfortable in Greenfield in summer 1998.

We moved to Greenfield after I found a job at the Adair County Free Press, then owned by the Sidey family. After the job was secured, phone calls were made to find a place to live. We were not in a position to buy, so we rented. Additional phone calls were made and a great, one-bedroom, one-bathroom house was available but not when we needed it.

The tenant of the rental was planning to leave, but he was waiting for the timing to be right to get into his next residence. So what do we do? More phone calls were made and Pam Wiggins was mentioned. She was manager of the senior citizen apartment complex on Greenfield’s southeast side of town. She said there were a few vacant apartments. She made arrangements for us to live in one until the rental house was open.