People in West, Texas, gathered for a memorial service Monday night to mark four years since an explosion at the local fertilizer plant changed the town forever.
People in West, Texas, gathered for a memorial service Monday night to mark four years since an explosion at the local fertilizer plant changed the town forever.
The blast killed 15 people and destroyed more than 100 homes.
"It was the worst day in West's long history," Pastor John Crowder said.
The memorial service included a moment of silence at 7:51 p.m., the time the explosion happened four years prior.
"We pause to show honor to those who earned it, those who deserve it, and to express love for those we lost," Crowder said. "We pause to remember."
West is a community settled by Czechs and Germans, who brought their traditions with them.
"Through the generations, they taught their families these values. They are faith, family and caring for neighbor," Crowder explained. "I'm not sure where our community would be without faith, but we would not be as strong and healthy as we are today."
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"There's not a day that doesn't go by that I think about something that happened that night," said Kim Woodard sitting in her new kitchen.
The Woodards' old house was destroyed in the explosion.
A cross now hangs in the kitchen wall, made from wood, brick and mortar of their old home.
"It's a reminder that God is going to take care of us," Woodard said.
"You have somebody to lean on," David Woodard said as he prepared a Good Friday fish fry last week. "Your family and your faith are two really important things."
Most of the homes that were destroyed in the explosion have been rebuilt. There is a "new normal" in West.
"I think for the most part, we're pretty well recovered," Crowder said.
But he adds it couldn't have been done without faith.
"No. I know I couldn't personally, and I don't think our community could," he said.
