The Greensburg Way: Looking Forward
by Chigozirim Utah
Last Updated: June 21, 2009

Erica Goodman's life in Greensburg might be described by some as kismet.
"We used to come to Kansas for antiques from Vegas," she said.
Goodman and her husband Gary owned an antique business in Las Vegas, and had never stopped in Greensburg during their trips to Kansas. However, after an unproductive day of buying, they decided to see what the town had to offer. They found an opportunity they couldn't refuse.
"I thought, how cute! An antique shop in an old church," she said, smiling. "A year later, we owned the place."
The Goodmans readily moved their lives to Greensburg in 2000.
"We felt it was time to get out of Vegas," Goodman said.
The Goodmans lost three buildings in the tornado: their home, the antique store called Fran's and a vintage clothing store, Snootie Seconds, run by their daughter..
"You don't thing you're going to wake up one morning and not even own a toothbrush," she said. "You are in shock. It probably took months for it to really hit me, at least what had actually happened�you get caught up in all you have to do."
Erica and her daughter spent months salvaging bricks from the church that housed Fran's.
"It was wiped clean," she stated, referring to the church. "We stacked and cleaned 10,000 bricks."
Their house was badly damaged, but still standing, and salvageable.
"I was just really upset that the house was so dirty," she said, bursting into laughter. "about three-quarters of the roof was gone, and the east wall upstairs."
The Goodmans discovered that they would not be able to rebuild because their house stood on the block where the new highway is going to be rebuilt.
Last year, fortune smiled on the Goodmans. They were approached by the president of Centera Bank, and asked if they were interested in buying the S.D. Robinett building, which was the only remaining building on Main Street.
"Neither one of us hesitated," she said.
The couple was able to successfully register the building with the state's historical society on the National Register of Historic Places.
Even though the Robinett building survived the storm, there is still a lot of work to be done.
"It has its moments, and there are times when you are pulling out your hair�" she said..
But the Goodmans are not giving up.
"We have a lot of optimism for the community," she said.