The Fix family from Wadena is grateful to be alive, after their home on Irving Avenue was ravaged by the EF4 tornado which destroyed much of the town June 17. Although many of their belongings were destroyed, the Fixs were not hurt and their cat, Kiki, survived. Pictured above, from left, are Tyler, who will be 17 in July; Gordy and Terri (Schimpp) Fix, a 1981 graduate of Staples High School. Gordy and Terri’s daughter, Ashley, a recent college graduate, lives in Waconia. (Staples World photo by Dawn Timbs) Two weeks after a series of tornados hit Wadena and the surrounding areas, people are still digging through the rubble, picking up the pieces and trying to figure out the next steps toward recovery.

“We’re going to have to find a new normal,” said Terri (Schimpp) Fix, whose family’s home on Irving Avenue SW in Wadena was all but destroyed by the EF4 tornado which tore up their neighborhood June 17.

Tammi (Schimpp) Walz of Minneapolis, formerly of Staples (left), drove to Wadena to help her sister, Terri (Schimpp) Fix, after learning about the tornado which destroyed much of the town June 17. Pictured behind the women, standing in the Fix’s back yard, is a four-plex apartment (without a basement) which was completely destroyed. Miraculously, no one was seriously injured. (Staples World photo by Dawn Timbs) “It looks like a war-zone around here, or Ground Zero in New York,” she said, looking out at the long stretch of debris lining the street, back alley and surrounding yards. “But I know that God is still in control. He has a plan,” Terri added.

Most of the homes in their neighborhood appear to have been demolished, many of the roofs simply blown away by the force of the tornado,

Fifteen pine trees, each 50 - 75 feet tall, used to stand in the Fix’s front yard. Now just stumps remain.

Before the tornado Terri, a 1981 graduate of Staples High School, has lived in this house (along with her husband, Gordy and their children, Ashley and Tyler) for the past 15 years.

“We’ve put a lot of work into this place and had just finished the last project,” Terri said with a sigh. “My goal was to have everything ready for Tyler’s graduation open house next year.”

Now they are starting over. “In less than a minute, 15 years worth of work and accumulations are gone just like that,” Terri said.

They’re waiting for the final word on how to proceed, but the opinion of the structural engineer is that their home should be totally bulldozed. “He said there’s too much structural damage; it would cost more to try to repair the house,” Gordy said.

The Deer Creek farm where Maryann (Edholm) Riewer of Staples grew up was destroyed when a series of tornados on June 17 ravaged the area. Pictured above, in the mid 1940s, Maryann (a 1961 graduate of Deer Creek High School) stands outside of her childhood home. Pictured at right is the house (now owned by Tom and Carolyn Trossen) after the recent tornado went through. In addition to major damage to the house, most of the other farm buildings and trees were destroyed. (Submitted photos) Still, the Fixs, like so many of the folks in the Wadena area, remain optimistic.

“The things we lost..they are all just temporary,” Gordy said. “No one died, which is amazing. We can re-plant trees, things can be replaced.”

Terri believes it’s a miracle that they are still alive, she said.

“It’s unusual that we were all home at that particular time. I had the day off and for some reason Gordy came home from work early that day,” Terri reflected.

It’s a good thing he did, she added. “Gordy’s the voice of reason. I don’t think Tyler and I would have taken the warning sirens as seriously. I was on a mission to finish cutting fruit; I didn’t want to go to the musty basement.”

The thunder sounded different to him, Gordy said, as he recalled that day.

There had been two down-pours of rain earlier and some hail; but all was eerily still prior to the tornado’s arrival.

After the second siren went off, around 5 p.m. June 15, Gordy glanced outside to assess the situation. “About a half-block away, I suddenly saw a piece of debris blow straight up,” he said.

Gordy yelled for Terri and Tyler to get to the basement. “About 20 seconds after I saw the debris flying, the tornado hit,” he said.

The roar was deafening, Tyler said. “Our ears were popping. We could hear trees falling and glass shattering.”

The three of them huddled together, close to the door frame. “I could see the floor joists were bouncing above us,” Gordy said.

Terri thought for sure they’d be buried alive, she said.

It lasted for about one minute, and then everything was silent once again.

Gordy made his way upstairs first to check things out and warned his family that it wasn’t a pretty sight.

Their house was a mess, with windows blown out and some walls missing. The garage was gone, both cars totaled.

A two by four had crashed through the room where Tyler, just minutes earlier, had been on his Play Station Three. “I would have been dead if my dad hadn’t told me to get downstairs,” Tyler said.

When they walked outside, the Fixs couldn’t get their bearings. “There was so much rubble, no landmarks. We couldn’t see anything,” Terri said.

Soon, others began to make their way to the surface. A man’s voice could be heard yelling, “Is everyone okay?” Terri recalled.

Neighbors were hugging each other and crying. “You found yourself talking to people you had never talked to before,” she added.

Tyler went to check on a neighbor who lived in a small house behind them. “He didn’t have a basement; but he had gotten into the bathtub and put a mattress over himself. He survived.”

Survivor stories miraculously abound throughout the tornado-ravaged area.

At the Wadena city pool, Emily Fuhrman, a soon-to-be senior at Staples Motley High School, was working as a lifeguard June 17.

“I was sitting in the lifeguard chair when I felt the first gust of wind,” Emily recalled. “We saw the sky turn green and that’s when I started to freak out. The calm before the storm was one of the scariest parts.”

There were three other lifeguards on duty that day; and when it appeared that a storm was on the way, they started calling parents to come and pick up their kids, all in elementary school.

“We still had two girls with us who hadn’t been picked up yet,” Emily said.

They initially sought shelter in the nearby pool room, telling the girls to get under the desk, Emily said.

One of the other lifeguards, however, felt they needed to be in a basement. They ran across the street, to the home of Cindy Wood, who immediately ushered them downstairs.

“Our ears started to pop; and you could hear the blowing. We put the little girls on the floor and everyone piled on top of each other,” Emily said. “I was on the very top.”

The sound was deafening, she recalled. “When the garage blew off, I could feel my body starting to go up with it.”

Emily was aware of Cindy praying for them the entire time.

“The little kids were freaking out,” Emily said. “All I could hear were their screams, the garage ripping off and the roar of the tornado. Cindy never quit praying.”

Later, when they emerged from the basement, Emily was shocked to see the pool completely destroyed, as well as the pool room they had first sought shelter at. Mangled cars could be seen in the parking lot; and the nearby high school was destroyed, Emily said.

Staples resident Maryann Riewer had been shopping at the Wadena Wal-Mart when the tornado-warning sirens went off. “An announcement came over the loud-speaker that we all had to get to the center of the store. Later they made us all sit down on the floor.”

When she came out of the store, Maryann was amazed at all of the debris and tree limbs that covered the parking lot. Driving home to Staples, she met a number of firetrucks and ambulances on their way to assist the tornado victims.

“I knew it must be serious at that point,” Maryann said. Later, she learned that the farm she had grown up at in Deer Creek had been completely destroyed by the tornado.

“I drove out to see it the next day. Most of it is gone,” Maryann said.

Rebuilding will take some time and a number of decisions will need to be made over the next few months.

“It will be weird next year to not be at our own school,” Tyler said. “I’ll be a senior.”

From what she’s heard at town meetings, Terri understands that Wadena-Deer Creek grades nine - 12 will be meeting at the Wadena Technical School next year; grades seven and eight will be at the elementary school; and the youngest students will have their classes at St. Anne’s School, which recently closed.

Their town has changed; and they have, too, Terri said.

“I’ve learned that things aren’t very important. After the tornado, all I really cared about was finding photos and scrapbooks. ‘De-crapitization’ is my new word,” she shared.

She’s also amazed at all of the volunteer help that’s come to Wadena over the past two weeks.

“It’s been humbling to accept the help of so many people,” Terri said. “The day after the tornado there were 15 people with chain saws in our yard. I probably only knew two of them.”

Prior to the recent tornado, Terri said she hadn’t really known much about the Salvation Army or The Red Cross. “They have been amazing. I want to be those people,” she added.

She’s also grateful to the help that’s poured in from her church, Wadena Alliance; and other churches from all over the county, Terri said.

“We’ve had people from Fargo come to help, because they said others helped them when they had their flood. Boy, the next time there’s a hurricane, I’ll be there to do what I can,” she added.

Along with other neighboring towns, the City of Staples has offered to help with the tornado relief efforts.

In addition to the Staples Ambulance, Staples Police and Staples Fire Departments offering assistance, a two-man crew from the Staples Municipal Electric Department has been doing what they can to help.

“They will be re-setting street lights in the damaged areas, as they want to have lights in those areas during the night,” Doug Bendorf, the new Staples Public Works Director, said. He mentioned that a few men from their department will be helping with the clean-up efforts as well.

“It’s good for us to be there, for those folks there to see a Staples truck helping them out. I’m told we had a lot of help from outside town come here 10 years ago or so when Staples had a tornado come through on the south side.”

There is a long standing tradition among Minnesota utility departments and other public services of helping each other out when disaster strikes, Bendorf added.

She’ll never forget the outpouring of help from so many people and organizations, Terri said.

Although she’s lived in Wadena for many years, Terri feels a strong connection to her hometown of Staples. “I still have a number of relatives and friends there; and so many have come to help us. We’re grateful.”