July 2, 2005 could be considered the best and the worst day in Robin & Kelli-Ann McKay's life. It was the best because they weren't home; and worst in that when they came home, there was nothing left to come home to.

John & Donna Sterling were out checking crops that night, when the unusual clouds caught their attention. The sky was getting continually darker, the Mariapolis tower disappeared from view, and then a section of the storm cloud turned a green-teal color, which John thought could be the eye of the storm.

As they sat at Jack Dyck's lane just a short distance from Bruce & Joyce McKay's, they saw a funnel emerge from the valley heading straight toward them. All thoughts of crops were forgotten as Donna slammed the truck into gear. From her rear view mirror she saw the monster cloud enter Jack's yard, snap trees and hydro lines and destroy his buildings. Worse, she could see them flying around in the funnel's huge debris cloud, terrifyingly close behind them.

As they frantically drove ahead of the storm, it occurred to them that if Robin & Kelly were home, they were situated in a place where they wouldn't be able to see the tornado coming.

Through pouring rain, winds stronger than they'd ever experienced, and a gigantic twister on their trail, they tore down a rough dirt road to the young McKay family's farm. The lights were off when they pulled up, but because power lines were down, it didn't stop John from sprinting to the door and yelling for the McKays to get in their vehicle to come to safety with them. The monster tornado was hidden from Donna's view by tall yard trees as she waited frantically in the truck. With no response from the trailer, John raced back to the truck, and they sped south in hopes of getting out of the cloud's path. By the time they got the half-mile drive to gravel completed, the tornado was in Robin's yard.

Three minutes had passed since John left the truck to go to the McKay's trailer door and they needed more.

They really didn't know what way to go, as when the funnel had first come out of the valley, it changed direction. Making a split-second decision, they turned west, the direction the funnel had come from, hoping it was the road to safety. Debris hit the truck as they drove and they could feel it being lifted by the strong winds. Donna was terrified as she watched timber and other debris flying around them. Once they were about a mile west of Desmond Gould's they felt they had made it out. While they'd had the terrifying cloud within view the whole time, this was the first time they could watch it safely. Donna noticed a smaller funnel following the larger, and could only hope those in its path would get to safety.

With the storm moving away from them, John & Donna thought to phone Robin's father George to let him know what had happened.

Robin & Kelli-Ann had been visiting her parents in Shoal Lake and had been delayed leaving by about an hour. That delay saved their lives.

Over the days since the storm, a few of this young family's personal items have been recovered by friends and family searching the nearby fields, but most will never be recovered.