After losing family home to Helene, couple finds wedding photo preserved in Bible
By Justin Berger
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FAIRVIEW, North Carolina (WLOS) — A Fairview couple is counting their blessings despite losing a home to flooding along the Swannanoa River during Hurricane Helene.
“That’s sobering, to watch your house float away,” Stephen Todd said.
Before the Swannanoa River lifted the home located at 27 Driftwood Court off its foundation, it belonged to Todd’s father. When he died in the 1990s, Todd stayed, and a few years later, he met his wife, Theresa.
“After a three-week courtship, we got engaged, and in an additional five weeks, we were married,” Stephen Todd said.
Their first child was born in that home before the Todds moved to Fairview in the mid-90s. His stepmom remained in the home until shortly before Hurricane Hlene, but when the river rose, luckily, their home was vacant.
“I don’t know if I fully understand why it makes me sad because I haven’t lived there in a long time, we haven’t been there, but there are significant events,” Stephen Todd said. “We have pictures of our wedding rehearsal and the house that my father died in.”
Eleven houses were lost on Driftwood Court, and one man, Lyn McFarland, lost his life.
When the water settled, it was a mess of mud, trees and debris, but memories survived.
“I had a car down there, an old 1969 Mercedes and I ended up giving that to one of the people that helped us and in the process of cleaning the mud out of it he found a Bible that we had in there that had two pictures of us, one from our wedding day and one, we think, was at the one-year mark when we were eating the top of the wedding cake,” Todd said.
The Todds gave the car to the two volunteers from Calvary Chapel in Philadelphia.
“They opened the pages of the Bible and dried each page out very carefully and extracted these and carefully preserved them for us,” Theresa Todd said.
It turned out the pictures weren’t just inside the Bible, but “they have become part of the Bible itself.”
Their wedding photo is clearly visible behind the text.
“It’s from the Book of John. Chapters 12 and 13. Jesus washing the Disciples’ feet,” Theresa Todd said. “To me, that was a representation and confirmation of God’s protection over our marriage.”
Today, the scars of Hurricane Helene are still visible on the pine trees from where homes collided into them.
Stephen said he isn’t sure what they’ll do on his father’s property, but after 34 years of marriage, the Todds are treasuring every memory.
They’ll preserve this one in a frame and Bible verse.
“We’re not sure which one of us put the picture in the Bible, and it’s really irrelevant; we’re thankful to have found them,” Stephen said.
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