ST. LOUIS — St. Louis native Rena Scott-Lyles was killed when a tornado hit her beloved family home in Fountain Park, reducing it to a pile of bricks Friday, family members said.

Rena Scott, 60, died after a tornado caused her Fountain Park home to collapse on May 16, 2025.
Scott-Lyles, 60, and her husband, Allen Lyles, were running toward the basement when the house collapsed, said Chastidy Henry, Scott-Lyles’ second-oldest daughter. Scott-Lyles was trapped under a dresser in the bedroom. Lyles was blown into a wall.
“Ƶ were buried in two different spots, just five inches away from each other,” Henry, 39, said.
Neighbors helped pull Lyles, 76, out of the wreckage but emergency responders took hours to recover her mom, Henry said. Lyles said the couple did not hear any tornado sirens, she said.
The tornado killed five people. Friends and family have identified Delois Holmes, a mother of five sons and great-grandmother of eight children; Patricia Penelton, a longtime cook and volunteer at Centennial Christian Church who was trapped when the church bell tower collapsed; Juan Baltazar, owner of a Mexican street corn food truck who was killed by a tree that fell in Carondelet Park; and Scott-Lyles.
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On Tuesday, the St. Louis Medical Examiner's Office confirmed those names and identified the fifth victim as well — Larry Patrick, 82.
Scott-Lyles’ stepdaughter, Yulonda Lyles, 49, called her a “beautiful soul.”
She was a retired EKG technician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, where she met her husband, a now-retired paramedic.
Yulonda Lyles said even though Scott-Lyles, whom she called “Reenie,” was her stepmother, she was treated like a daughter and the stepsiblings were one big family. Scott-Lyles leaves behind five daughters, two stepdaughters, a stepson, 8 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Not a day would go by without Scott-Lyles sending a text to check in on her and her sons, Yulonda Lyles said. She remembered people’s birthdays and milestones.
“If anything was going on with her, she always put everything to the side to help you,” Yulonda Lyles said. “She was an angel and now she is an angel. … We lost a good one.”
The couple were married for 27 years and lived in Scott-Lyles’ childhood home at the corner of Bayard Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive. The three-story building, which she had inherited from her family, was over 125 years old, Henry said.
“It was like the Secret Garden. There was always another floor to find,” Henry said, of growing up in the home. “She said she would never move from the house. She was so proud of it.”
Rosie C. Jackson lived across the street from Scott-Lyles for over five decades.
After wind and rain blew through Friday afternoon, Jackson said she went outside and saw firetrucks and police surrounding the house. Allen Lyles was rescued but emergency responders sawed through the fallen structure for hours before Scott-Lyles’ body was recovered, Jackson said.
“They did what they could do,” Jackson said. “I was just hoping by some miracle that she had survived. … This just brings me to tears thinking about it.”
Lynn Cook said she and Scott-Lyles danced in a flag worship group called God’s Golden Glories. Scott-Lyles would often perform with different flag groups at churches and events.
“She was a fun-loving person. … She was always going out and dancing, blessing people with her flags,” Cook said. “She was so sweet. Everyone called her Sweet Rena.”
After seeing photos of storm damage on Friday, Cook called Allen Lyles when she couldn’t get ahold of her friend. He said his wife had died. Cook raced over, arriving before her friend’s body had been taken away.
“[Allen] was sitting on the pile of bricks with Rena next to him and that was the most hurting thing I’ve ever seen,” Cook said.
Yulonda Lyles said her father has been staying with family as they figure out what’s next.
“He lost everything, the love of his life, his home,” Lyles said.
“We’re all pretty lost,” Henry added.
Terran Dampier, of the 4800 block of Fountain Ave., in St. Louis, describes her shock after a tornado ripped through the Fountain Park area. “We just bought this house three years ago on the 19th. It was a complete gut rehab.”