Biden calls to encourage UK grad after tornado hit her hometown
Like many in Western Kentucky, it has been a difficult week for Abby Parker.
The University of Kentucky student was supposed to be getting ready for graduation. But after tornadoes hit Western Kentucky, including her hometown of Dawson Springs, Parker’s priorities changed.
Dawson Springs, a city with fewer than 3,000 residents in Hopkins County, sustained major damage in the storms last weekend. Tornadoes and winds estimated around 150 miles per hour resulted in the deaths of 77 people across the state. In Hopkins County, 17 people died.
Parker was home last weekend when the deadly tornadoes hit the area. She and her family are safe, but her apartment and large portions of the town have been destroyed. Places she saw every day growing up are gone, Parker said.
“It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” Parker said.
Parker will graduate from the University of Kentucky on Friday. But this week, she was in Dawson Springs with her family when she unexpectedly met President Joe Biden.
On Wednesday, she was at her grandmother’s house when a press conference for Biden was being set up down the road. Secret service agents told her family they could come closer to the event, and her family met the president.
Her grandmother told him that Parker was about to graduate, and he congratulated her and talked for a few minutes.
“It was really, really crazy,” Parker said. “We’re really thankful that him and Governor Andy (Beshear) came, because we need all the help we can get.”
Biden brought Parker and her cousin Dane Maddox to the podium during his remarks, congratulating her on her graduation.
“You got to remember me when you’re president,” Biden said after introducing her.
When they talked before his remarks, Biden got her phone number. Parker didn’t think much of it — she thought that maybe someone from the president’s staff would reach out in the coming days.
“Not even five minutes after he left, I got a phone call and it said from Washington D.C.,” Parker recalled on Thursday. “I answered it, and he said ‘Hey, this is Joe Biden.’”
Parker said she was completely surprised by the phone call. The two talked for a few minutes, and Biden offered her advice.
“He was giving me advice. He said he had been through rough times, and that we would get through it,” she said. “He was really thankful to everybody for being so nice.”
The conversation was a bright spot in a difficult week, Parker said. Biden encouraged her that things will get better.
“There are brighter days ahead, even though it seems really dark right now,” she said.
Parker will walk across the stage at Rupp Arena on Friday. Then, she’ll return to Dawson Springs. She has been offered a job as an instructional assistant in Dawson Springs, where she’ll work while getting her master’s degree in school counseling.
Still, Parker said there was some heaviness as she prepared for graduation.
“I was excited for my graduation, but everything else became irrelevant, including my graduation,” Parker said. “(Dawson Springs) is where my heart is right now.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2021 11:14 AM.