'It's a miracle that we're alive'
May 28, 2024
Teenage Gavin Meisenheimer and his mom, Janet, were home early on Tuesday, May 21 when the weather turned.
About 3:45 p.m. Gavin saw debris and roof shingles fly around his house.
A tornado warning blared from Janet’s phone.
“Run,” she screamed.
They raced to the safest room of their rural Greenfield home, a space behind the garage that had three cement walls.
Windows crashed.
Dirt blew around them.
The roof ripped off the house.
In that safe room, mother and son hung on to one another.
“I could hardly breathe at one point,” said Gavin.
In less than a minute, it was over. The deadly EF4 tornado, that ripped up parts of Greenfield and killed five people, had destroyed their home.
“It’s a miracle that we’re alive,” Janet said.
The pair carefully emerged from hiding. They looked through the debris for shoes to wear. They smelled gas so they made their way to the road. Water shot into the air from a pipe that once carried water into their home.
In what was left of their househere were trees, an electric pole, and wires from the pole.
Janet’s husband, Nick, drove home from work after the storm. She told him over the phone that the house was gone.
“I thought there’d be something left but there’s nothing left,” he said. “It’s hard to believe.”
She also called back her older son who lives in Ankeny. He was on a Facetime call with her when she shouted “Run” and the connection ended.
The family stayed with Nick’s mom that night. They went to their church, St. John in Greenfield, the next day where they were told they might be able to get some supplies.
A home in Greenfield Iowa is among the 135 destroyed by a May 21 tornado. Photo by Anne Marie Cox/Diocese of Des Moines
There, the Meisenheimers were embraced.
“We were just overwhelmed with the community support and love and kindness. You could just feel it from everyone,” Janet said. “When one person goes through it, we all go through it. We’re all just so supportive of everyone.”
Volunteers joined the family in picking through the insulation and debris to see if anything was salvageable. Credit cards were sucked out of Janet’s purse, but the cash and purse were left behind.
Janet had put her wedding ring on her dresser along with her mother’s ring while she did household chores. They found both rings in the debris.
A 33-year teacher at St. Malachy School in Creston, Janet said the school took up a change collection at Mass the day after the tornado and again at a music night the following day for her and for a third-grade teacher whose mother lost her house in Greenfield.
“They have been so supportive. We really, truly are a family at St. Malachy,” she said. “The outpouring of support from the St. Malachy family and the whole community has been overwhelming and humbling. It makes me grateful that we are here in this community.”
In facing the loss of their home, and nearly their lives, Gavin and Janet say they believe God saved them for a reason.
“I could have gotten killed in a tornado,” Gavin said. “I feel like I’m on this earth for a purpose.”
The family was at Mass the following Saturday, where Bishop William Joensen praised the community for their immediate and loving response to the tornado and encouraged the community to have hope. The pastor, Father Philip Yaw Bempong said, “God is good” and the congregation responded, “All of the time.” The recessional song was “Now Thank We All Our God.”
Janet said: “God has a purpose for me. Maybe that purpose is to continue to share my faith with the kids at St. Malachy. I don’t know. But I believe he has a plan for him (Gavin) and me and without faith, you can’t get through things like this.”
An area in south Greenfield, Iowa was devastated by a May 21 tornado. Photo by Anne Marie Cox/Diocese of Des Moines
Residents of Greenfield, Iowa collected what they could salvage from homes destroyed by a May 21 tornado.
Books, papers, and other items typically found in a home are stewn about in tornado-stricken Greenfield, Iowa.
Bishop William Joensen listens to a parishioner of St. John Church in Greenfield, Iowa as he shares his experience of a May 21 tornado.