On June 18th, a tornado ripped through my cousin’s family farm. This particular ranch is the headquarters for the “business”. My great uncle, his wife and two boys were home at the time. John, Dan and Eileen made it to the basement in time. Si who is in his upper 80’s wasn’t quick enough and rode out the storm in the hallway of the main house. Thankfully everyone is OK. There were only a couple things on the place that weren’t damaged. I’ve talked to my cousin every couple days since. You can hear the overwhelming load of work he sees in the future. He said yesterday, the reality is the buildings, equipment and livestock can all be replaced. The saddest part may be losing all the trees. It takes forever to get a good set of trees out in central SD.
I’ve had some of my fondest memories on this place hunting pheasants and deer. Hanging out in the shop or the hole in the wall for a cold one. Anyone who has ever been lucky enough to cross paths with this family knows you will be shown a good time and fed like a king/queen. If you get a spare moment, shoot them a good thought or two. They could use it right now.
