Thu, Nov 26 2009
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Hundreds gather to pay tribute to tornado victims, emergency workers Among those attending were Wess Peterson and his wife, Lori. The couple were honoring Wess Peterson’s father, Rockie Peterson, 64. The couple also were business partners with Rockie Peterson. The couple were with him when the May 10 tornado drove them all to seek shelter in a barn on the Peterson farmsteads, near Falcon and Iris roads. Rockie Peterson was killed by a huge tree that came crashing through the barn. “Every day is a little better,” Lori Peterson said after Sunday’s service. Several operations are contained in the Peterson farmsteads northeast of Racine. Some deal in the breeding and sale of goats. One deals in equipment, such as pens, for goats and small stock. Lori Peterson said much rebuilding has been done over the past year. A new barn and pens have been erected, although she noted the farm will “never be the same.” In the aftermath of the storm, the family found some solace in tending to the needs of their herd. “Plowing forward,” Lori Peterson said when asked how the family had coped. “That push to stay in business and stay busy.” Closure Ted Brown said it was “very hard” when he lost his sister, Linda Hasty, to the storm last year. Hasty, 59, died when the tornado destroyed her rural Seneca mobile home. “It tore me apart,” Brown said. “It really did.” He said he would never forget his sister, but that Sunday’s service did bring him a measure of closure. Ruby Bilke, 76, was traveling to a wedding last May 10 with her daughter Kathy Rountree, 47, her husband, Richard Rountree, 52, and their son Clayton, 13. They were driving through the Highway 43-Iris Road intersection when the storm descended. All four died and were remembered Sunday. Ruby Bilke’s son, Larry Bilke, said he and Bill Lant talked after the ceremony about having the families of the victims return next year to plant a tree in memory of those lost. “This was a central place,” Bilke said of the memorial location. “Everybody relates to this place now.” Asked about his family’s coping, Bilke said: “We’re doing good. We are strong in our faith.” 
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More from the Nature's Fury: May 10, 2008 section
Hundreds gather to pay tribute to tornado victims, emergency workers Memorial service marks deadly day Memories, scars remain from tornado |
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