Photos and words by Sarah Fulton, Jennifer Gardner, Colton Warren
“I felt the basement stairs cave in, and I felt a lot of pressure and I passed out. When I opened my eyes, there was dirt and glass flying, so I closed them real quick and I could hear my mom digging her nails into the cement and screaming. The cellar door was still attached, and it was opening, and I was thinking, ‘Oh no, I hope they don’t get sucked out.’”
– Deena Schell
“It just breaks your heart to see your own home torn down. We did everything there. It just really hit home. I am never going to come back to that house again.”
– Larry Hendrickson
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Deena Schell (bottom left), a mother of two, was home when the tornado tore through the tiny town of Fairdale, Illinois. The two levels of her home were ripped off, with one ending up across the highway from her property. She is partnering with Habitat for Humanity to build a new home in time for the school year.
Fairdale is not as strong as its houses or its trees. It’s as strong as its community. - Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner
“[The governor] could have just done a 10-minute, ‘Hi, how are you? Keep up the good work,’ got back in and gone. He was here for almost three hours. And I think he was very moved, too. I’m glad he stayed.”
– Bill Nicklas (right), vice president of the DeKalb County Long Term Recovery Corporation
A marker painted for first responders noting no casualties in this house remains visible one year after a tornado damaged nearly every structure in the rural town of Fairdale.
April 9, 2015, was a horrible day. April 9, 2016, is a beautiful day. - Chad Connell, chief, Kirkland Community Fire District
“I stepped out of my back door, looked to the west and there it was — there was the tornado. By the time I had the time to register what was going on, the pagers dropped for our fire department to respond to Fairdale.”
– Chad Connell
“What I can say is the community came together that night. They are a small community, a great community.”
– Erin Wruck
“I have a little one — he’s 2 — and he never got to actually meet his grandma. So seeing him grow up and not letting her see it was a little hard to take.”
– Justina Jackson, granddaughter of Geri Schultz
“This day is celebration. This is a milestone. We have this new park. We have homes. It’s just a day of healing. Mother Nature put a nasty scar on this town, and we’re just trying to cover that scar up.”
– Chad Connell
