CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Penny Scroggins had made it through a “rough life,” including once being shot in the head in the 1970s. But through it all, she always found the positive in the most difficult situations, always making the best of things.
“She was just a sweet lady. She loved everybody, she was just always smiling,” said her daughter, Denise Batten.
Denise had that same positive hope: that her 78-year-old mother would bounce back once again after being critically injured in the Dec. 9 Clarksville tornado. But even after surgeries, Penny died Saturday of complications from her severe injuries. She is the fourth person to have died as a result of the storm.
‘She slipped through his fingers’
Penny, who had dementia, lived with her son John Scroggins, 56, in a mobile home on Dogwood Trail, just off Evans Road, Denise said.
As the storm approached and the power went out, John was about to go take a shower when his phone alerts sounded. He ran down the hall and got Penny, bringing her with him to the kitchen with less than 30 seconds to react.
“They were together, and he was holding onto her, and she just slipped through his fingers,” Denise said. The storm sent them flying in different directions, and they were both buried under the rubble.
John suffered multiple compression fractures in his vertebrae. He has since been released from the hospital and is now staying with a sister in Dover while the family sorts out what to do next, Denise said.
Penny was in the trauma unit for the entire week before she died Saturday. She regained consciousness, but with the dementia she was confused, thinking she was back in the 1970s after the shooting.
“She’s had several close calls,” Denise said. “We always told her she had nine lives. She’s a tough lady; she just couldn’t live through this.”
How to help
Property cleanup, disaster paperwork, and medical and funeral arrangements have piled onto the family’s grief and worry. “We’ve both been trying to do everything we can. But it’s just the two of us.”
Denise said they appreciate the help they’ve had from Montgomery County Government doing cleanup, and with Helping His Hands Disaster Response, which has been helping as well. A GoFundMe had been set up for anyone who wants to pitch in.
“And just pray for us, that’s the big thing,” Denise said.
A Celebration of Life service will be held at noon Jan. 20 at Sykes Funeral Home.
The others who died in the Clarksville storm were 10-year-old Arlan Coty of Clarksville; 59-year-old Donna Allen of Florida, and 34-year-old Stephen Kwaah Hayes of Clarksville. Police have said 62 people were taken to area hospitals with injuries that day, and nine of those had critical injuries.
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