Tornado takes 'Mrs. Bonnie,' animal lover



Wynn Westmoreland, a media coordinator for CNN, offers this personal remembrance of two victims from the weekend's severe weather.

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- I met Bonnie Turner seven years ago when I was looking for a puppy.

Bonnie Turner and her husband, Michael, on their farm.

There was just simply no one better to turn to than the eccentric grandmother who loved animals so much that her 86-acre North Georgia farm was home to donkeys, goats, high-priced show dogs and even a few wayward deer.

On Saturday, nothing was left of that bucolic sanctuary after a 130-mph tornado ravaged it. Bonnie died, thrown 50 feet from her home as her husband Michael cried out her name, their neighbors Joe and Jamie Wheeler said.

Her death has shaken me. Images of the animals that died -- at last 35 dogs and 100 still missing -- make my voice crack when I speak about her.

More at the link.