WHEATLAND — Wheatland residents whose lives were tragically spun together by a tornado a year ago marked the anniversary in different ways Wednesday.

About a dozen residents huddled outside and counted down the seconds to 4:09 p.m. — the minute last year the tornado struck.

Later that night, about 200 people gathered at a special prayer service at St. Alphonsus Church.

In the cul-de-sac behind Wheatland Center School — in weather quite the opposite from Jan. 7, 2008 — residents shared hugs, tears and toasts of cheer for a better year ahead.

“Here’s to you guys — to each and every one of us,” Chuck Lestarge said as friends, some whose homes were destroyed and others whose weren’t, marked the moment under a small tent.

Others joined them later for drinks donated by Mars Trading Post, chili and (though its maker didn’t think of the irony) pineapple upside-down cake. One woman said she cried the entire day Tuesday while her neighbor said he couldn’t stop the tears Wednesday.

“I just don’t know how to describe the way I feel,” he said.

Across town, in the second subdivision happened upon by the tornado, Karen Kerkman broke down when the Rev. Mike Erwin paid a personal visit at 4:10 p.m. to see if everyone was OK.

“We weren’t,” she said. “None of us were.”

Two tornadoes with winds up to 167 mph cut a swath through the county Jan 7. Most of the damage was in Wheatland and on Kenosha’s north side. No one was killed, or even seriously injured, which had everyone at the St. Alphonsus prayer service giving thanks.

“One year after a tornado tore through our community, many are still trying to heal from the devastation it left behind,” one reader at the service said. “The spiritual and emotional effects are not so easily healed.”

Flashbacks, hearing or seeing things that are not there, feeling emotionally numb, problems with relationships and general irritability or anger are normal feelings for people to have after such an experience, Erwin said. Serious illness, loss of jobs, untimely deaths and other “tornadoes of the heart” also plagued the community during the last year.

Yet there were bright spots and moments of light.

So, the purpose of the service was two-fold — to continue to pray for ongoing concerns and troubles and to give thanks for those times when the light of hope has led the way.

Those in attendance were able to write their prayers of concern on gray pieces of paper and their prayers of thanksgiving or hope on white pieces of paper. Erwin chose several out of each collection to read before asking all these prayers to be heard.

“There is one that says a ‘Grandma is in pain’” Erwin said as he read the prayer requests on the gray note cards.

On the white cards, one woman wrote, “I’ve seen light and courage in my husband.” Another found joy and a sense of pride in seeing how their children have grown and who they have become. Still another gave thanks for being healed of cancer.

“We have each other at the end of this storm,” Erwin said.