Hundreds gathered in Garland Monday evening to remember lives lost and lives saved during the 2015 tornado.
They stood on the foundation of a church that is no longer standing, the Oasis at Lakeview.
"Just standing here gives me chills," said Stacia Holt.
She was at her Garland home when the tornado tore through. Her uncle's home was directly in the path. His home, destroyed a year ago, is now rebuilt.
"It feels just like yesterday," Holt said, describing the evening in crystal clear detail. "It was very windy and the wind just stopped. It was still."
Mendi Mann, a nurse, was on-call on Dec. 26, 2015, driving in to work.
"I was driving into the tornado," Mann said.
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She took the first exit off Interstate 30 that she could, moments before the tornado passed by. She captured terrifying cell phone video showing it standing in her path.
"So I walked through, ended up helping pull people out, put them in ambulances," Mann said.
She came to the candlelight vigil searching for those she had helped.
"It was surreal. So surreal, it was like I was in a movie," Mann said. "There was nothing about it that was normal.”
Normal is still a long way off, evident by faces flickering in candlelight at the vigil.
Misty Reeves organized Monday's vigil, hoping to bring the community closer a year after their toughest tragedy.
"Just know the community still thinks of them," Reeves said.
