PRAIRIETOWN, Ill. – As several structures were damaged in severe storms Thursday evening, family and friends of one farm in Prairietown, IL, are now picking up the pieces.

Farmer Richard Goebel grew up at the farm. Bommarito Automotive Group’s SkyFOX shows the damage is extensive.

He and his brother are third-generation owners. The chicken coop was among the structures leveled in the EF-1 tornado, which holds a special story dating back almost a century.

“When they built the house here, they all lived in it. My aunts and uncles lived in it, and my grandparents, my dad and mom,” Goebel said. “They lived in it while they were building the house here.”

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The house was built in the 1930s. The farm holds a lot of memories for Richard’s daughters.

“As a child in the summer times and everything, I lived a mile away,” said one of his daughters, Tricia Young. “My sister and I and my cousins we would play out in the pastures and drink from the creek or the wells and play. We just played here. Lots to do. It’s pretty sad.”

Goebel’s other daughter, who lives in the home, luckily wasn’t there when the tornado hit, which blew out all of the windows.

“Well, she went out to get supper and we were in town, which is a mile away. We were watching TV, and all of a sudden somebody said, ‘You’ve got some windows and barns down,’” Goebel said.

Family and friends came together to start the process of moving forward. Young said they’ve been cutting down wood.

But Goebel has an optimistic approach.

“You got to go on,” he said.

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