Tornado Destroys Small Family Farm in Wisconsin

Wausau Nightly News Coverage

This past weekend, in the early morning hours of Saturday, July 19th at around 5:30 am, a small family farm in Central Wisconsin was hit by what could only be called a tornado (though officially it's still being called a high wind event at the time of this writing). The 99-year old barn that had been in the Oliver family for generations and appreciated by the broader community was destroyed in moments (and most frustratingly after recent $60k renovation and beautification efforts to restore and protect it). Along with it, a detached garage, a large shed, and a chicken coop were all destroyed, with major exterior damage being dealt to the main house (broken windows, 2x4s impaled into the siding, soffits ripped away from eaves, siding riddled by hail, etc).  The debris has been scattered across acres of fields and the full loss of belongings has not yet been fully assessed or understood as the only two residents, a disabled uncle and his younger nephew, have gone straight into recovery and cleanup efforts (thankfully with some help from wonderful neighbors in the community.)

Miraculously, no one was physically harmed except for a few dead chickens, but they do have an uphill battle of cleanup and replacing lost and damaged belongings and rebuilding the structures. Insurance is expected to cover the main house repairs and possibly a small amount towards garage replacement but not enough for the other outbuildings or the 99 year old restored barn.

Late Grandpa Oliver fell in love with that barn because it was so big and it was in the old historic logging community of Glandon, which was just down the road from his in-laws farm. He took it as a good sign because it was built in 1926 which is the same year he was born. He envisioned having lots of cows and raising his family there, which he succeeded in doing. Through lots of hard work he turned a rundown farm into a beautiful prosperous farm and the family shares many happy memories there, lots of them centered around that barn. Grandpa Oliver left the generations of family a few years ago, but his dream lived on in the restoration of the barn. Heartbroken as a family and community, we hope to rebuild a much smaller barn using the beams salvaged.

This “GoFundMe” is created to raise funds on behalf of the Oliver family. If you can spare anything, any donation would be greatly appreciated to restore and recover from the recent tragedy . Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. ❤️‍