As Hurricane Helene roared outside, the wind howling and branches snapping, John Savage went to his grandparents' bedroom to make sure they were OK.
“We heard one snap and I remember going back there and checking on them,” the 22-year-old said of his grandparents, Marcia, 74, and Jerry, 78, who were lying in bed. “They were both fine, the dog was fine.”
But not long after, Savage and his father heard a “boom” — the sound of one of the biggest trees on the property in Beech Island, South Carolina, crashing on top of his grandparents’ bedroom and killing them.
“All you could see was ceiling and tree,” he said. “I was just going through sheer panic at that point.”
John Savage said his grandparents were found hugging one another in the bed, adding that the family thinks it was God’s plan to take them together, rather than one suffer without the other.
“When they pulled them out of there, my grandpa apparently heard the tree snap beforehand and rolled over to try and protect my grandmother,” he said.
They are among the more than 150 people confirmed dead in one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history. Dozens of them died just like the Savages, victims of trees that fell on homes or cars. The dead include two South Carolina firefighters killed when a tree fell on their truck.
The storm battered communities across multiple states, flooding homes, causing mudslides and wiping out cell service.
Jerry Savage did all sorts of handy work, but he worked mostly as an electrician and a carpenter. He went “in and out of retirement because he got bored,” John Savage said. “He'd get that spirit back in him to go back out and work.”
Tammy Estep, 54, called her father a “doer" and the hardest worker she knew.
Marcia Savage was a retired bank teller. She was very active at their church and loved being there as often as she could, said granddaughter Katherine Savage, 27. She had a beautiful voice and was always singing, especially gospel. Estep said her mother loved cooking for her family, making an awesome turkey for Thanksgiving and known for her banana pudding.
Condolences posted on social media remembered the couple as generous, kind and humble.
John and Katherine spent many years of their childhood living in a trailer behind their grandparents' house, and John and his father had been staying with his grandparents for the last few years. Even with some of the recent storms to hit their community, trees fell further up in the yard and "we had not had anything like that happen” before, he said.
Over decades, the house would fill with family for Thanksgiving and Christmas, plus Easter egg hunts in the large yard.
A GoFundMe organized for their funeral expenses says they were survived by their son and daughter, along with four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Katherine Savage said her grandparents, especially Marcia, always offered to help her with her own three sons and would see the boys almost every day.
“I haven’t even told my boys yet because we don’t know how," she said.
The two were teenage sweethearts and married for over 50 years. Estep said their love was “immediate, and it was everlasting.”
“They loved each other to their dying day,” John Savage said.
This photo provided by Laurel Lindsay shows Marcia and Jerry Savage, who were killed by a tree that fell and crushed their bedroom during Hurricane Helene. (Laurel Lindsay/Second Baptist Church of Beech Island, S.C.)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's new President Claudia Sheinbaum started her day Wednesday much like her political mentor, ex-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, began most of his: with an early morning news briefing from the National Palace.
López Obrador's news briefings, known as the “mañaneras,” were marathon affairs, featuring folksy dialogue, verbal jousting with the press, and, frequently, long history lessons. His oratorical skills turned his 2 1/2-hour-long daily mañaneras into a powerful political weapon.
Sheinbaum kept her morning briefing shorter, less combative and more concise, in keeping with her character as a scientist and academic.
She said she would keep some of her predecessor's fixtures, like a weekly segment attacking what she called media “lies” about the government. The new president also continued a diplomatic dispute with Spain — which has refused to apologize for abuses during the 1500s conquest of Mexico — that many thought she would try to defuse.
Sheinbaum also continued López Obrador's efforts to downplay drug cartel violence in the northern state of Sinaloa, saying it was not among the states with the highest number of murders this week.
It’s no surprise that Sheinbaum decided to continue with the successful formula of her mentor — she has promised to continue virtually everything he did. She will hope to set the press's daily agenda just as López Obrador did throughout his presidency.
After her June 2 election victory, the former Mexico City mayor began holding midday news briefings that concluded within half an hour. Sheinbaum would open with announcements and then take questions from journalists.
In Wednesday's first press conference, Sheinbaum was a bit more punctual in her responses and, unlike López Obrador, didn't use questions as a pretext for half-hour discourses on obscure chapters of Mexican history.
But she did open her first press conference with a governmental apology on the 56th anniversary of the Oct. 2, 1968 army massacre of student pro-democracy protesters in Mexico City's Tlatelolco square in which as many as 300 people were killed.
Sheinbaum revealed that her mother had participated in the movement and had been expelled from a state-run university in retaliation.
“I have said before, I am a child of ‘68,” Sheinbaum said, calling her memories of the period — when she was 6 years old — “something very painful.”
During his presidency, which concluded Monday, the 70-year-old López Obrador held daily briefings Monday through Friday, combining jokes and harshness and, often, attacking journalists critical of his administration, publishing reporters' phone numbers and personal financial data.
But Sheinbaum, a 62-year-old scientist-turned-politician, has another style.
“As a communicator she’s different,” said Roy Campos, president of the polling company Consulta-Mitofsky. He said Sheinbaum has a “spare” speaking style. She transmits an image of “a university professor who tries to demonstrate seriousness and truth through science," he added.
That's a far cry from the folksy López Obrador, who would speak for hours, with lots of colloquial language, and he enjoyed publicly confronting his adversaries.
Through his powerful speeches, López Obrador managed to leave office with an approval rating still above 60%. His legacy makes him one of Mexico’s most popular presidents in recent history.
Now the question arises as to whether Sheinbaum will be able to capture the attention and win the empathy that López Obrador consolidated during his six-year term.
Campos said it all depends on how she will come across in front of the cameras.
“She will try to create that empathy that López Obrador created,” he said. “We’re going to see if this daily presence will give her control of the press agenda or popularity.”
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum gives a media briefing from the National Palace in Mexico City, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, the morning after her inauguration. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum gives a media briefing as journalists raise their hands to ask questions at the National Palace in Mexico City, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, the morning after her inauguration. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum gives a media briefing from the National Palace in Mexico City, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, the morning after her inauguration. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Supporters of President Claudia Sheinbaum gather in the Zócalo, Mexico City's main square, during a rally on her inauguration day, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurea Del Rosario)
A supporter carries a cutout of President Claudia Sheinbaum during a rally to hear her speak on her inauguration day at the Zocalo, Mexico City's main square, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurea Del Rosario)
Supporters listen to President Claudia Sheinbaum during a rally in the Zócalo, Mexico City's main square, on her inauguration day, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
President Claudia Sheinbaum waves to Indigenous women during a rally in the Zócalo, Mexico City's main square, on her inauguration day, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurea Del Rosario)
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum smiles at supporters during a rally in the Zócalo, Mexico City's main square, on her inauguration day, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Supporters of President Claudia Sheinbaum attend a rally in the Zócalo, Mexico City's main square, on her inauguration day, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
President Claudia Sheinbaum addresses supporters in the Zócalo, Mexico City's main square, on her inauguration day, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
President Claudia Sheinbaum speaks on her inauguration day after being sworn in at Congress in Mexico City, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
President Claudia Sheinbaum and outgoing President Andres Manuel López Obrador wave on her inauguration day at Congress in Mexico City, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
