Oklahoma tornado hits close to home for Swampscott vets agent

SWAMPSCOTT – Though tornado winds were isolated to Oklahoma on Monday, ripples of its effect carried to Swampscott through the family of Town Veterans Agent Jim Shultz.The storm’s 200 mph winds ripped through the town of Shawnee, Okla., the hometown of Shultz’s son-in-law, Anthony Serena, who serves in the 101st Airborne with wife, Jenna. Serena’s grandparents Lucille and Virgil, like countless others, lost their home and all their possessions in Monday’s event, including their family dog and all of Virgil’s war medals.Shultz’s wife, Michele immediately set up a fund for Serena’s relatives, asking for donations of money, clothes and gift cards from Walmart to be sent to Shawnee. “My daughter spoke to my wife, told her the situation, and my wife decided to take it upon herself to help them out,” said Shultz. “She put out the call, so to speak.””They literally only have the clothes on their back,” she wrote in an email. “They have nothing. They will be living with their daughter and her family until they can find somewhere to live.”Donors can email Michele Shultz at [email protected] or Jim at [email protected] to make arrangements for donations. Shultz also wrote that if donors prefer to “donate to all victims, go to www.kfor4.com and it will provide you links to different organizations.”The tornado that the National Weather Service ranked as top-of-the-scale killed at least 24 people, including nine children, and was at some points 1.3 miles wide, with a path that went on for 17 miles and 40 minutes. Meteorologists estimated the energy released by the twister ranged from 8 times to more than 600 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb, with more experts at the high end.Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].