Jesse Theron Fisher and his uncle Gary Smith were huddled in their camper at Red Haw State Park in Iowa as a tornado moved closer. They tried to take shelter from Saturday’s storm in a shower room but, because it was off season, the steel doors were locked. “The wind was blowing hard and the camper was rocking a little bit,” Smith said. “The next thing I knew I was buried in rubble.”The tornado tore through their camper in Lucas County, turning it to shreds. Smith climbed out from piles of broken tree limbs and sheet metal, searching for his nephew.”I was hollering his name and then I found him laying on the ground,” Smith recalled. “Legs kind of spread apart his arms out like someone would lay down and try to make a snow angel. He gasped for air and I tried to do CPR on him. Every time I close my eyes that’s all I can see.”Jesse Theron Fisher did not survive his injuries. The next day, Smith said he woke up for the first time in 40 years to life without his nephew. “We’ve always been together since the day he was born,” Smith said through tears. “We did everything together: hunting, camping fishing. It’s just hard to believe that he’s gone.”Just months earlier, Fisher and Smith’s home caught fire. The damage was too severe to continue living there, so the two moved into a friend’s camper at Red Haw State Park. “My health’s been bad. I didn’t think I was gonna live through that and with help and his encouragement, I survived that. Then the house fire, and if it wasn’t for him I’d probably be dead. And now this,” Smith said, shaking his head. “I keep telling people, ‘Why couldn’t have I went with him?'”For now Smith is living in a motel room, recovering from minor injuries and the shock of losing his “nephew and best friend.” He’s still paying off a loan he took out to afford living in the camper and is trying to figure out how to pay for funeral expenses.
Jesse Theron Fisher and his uncle Gary Smith were huddled in their camper at Red Haw State Park in Iowa as a tornado moved closer. They tried to take shelter from Saturday’s storm in a shower room but, because it was off season, the steel doors were locked.
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“The wind was blowing hard and the camper was rocking a little bit,” Smith said. “The next thing I knew I was buried in rubble.”
The tornado tore through their camper in Lucas County, turning it to shreds. Smith climbed out from piles of broken tree limbs and sheet metal, searching for his nephew.
“I was hollering his name and then I found him laying on the ground,” Smith recalled. “Legs kind of spread apart [and] his arms out like someone would lay down and try to make a snow angel. He gasped for air and I tried to do CPR on him. Every time I close my eyes that’s all I can see.”
Jesse Theron Fisher did not survive his injuries. The next day, Smith said he woke up for the first time in 40 years to life without his nephew.
“We’ve always been together since the day he was born,” Smith said through tears. “We did everything together: hunting, camping [and] fishing. It’s just hard to believe that he’s gone.”
Just months earlier, Fisher and Smith’s home caught fire. The damage was too severe to continue living there, so the two moved into a friend’s camper at Red Haw State Park.
“My health’s been bad. I didn’t think I was gonna live through that and with [Jesse’s] help and his encouragement, I survived that. Then the house [caught] fire, and if it wasn’t for him I’d probably be dead. And now this,” Smith said, shaking his head. “I keep telling people, ‘Why couldn’t have I went with him?'”
For now Smith is living in a motel room, recovering from minor injuries and the shock of losing his “nephew and best friend.” He’s still paying off a loan he took out to afford living in the camper and is trying to figure out how to pay for funeral expenses.
