By Julie A. Miller
Catholic Herald
Guardian angel helped salvage lodge
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Mark and Susan Lacek stand in front of The Lodge at Crooked Lake, which was spared damage from a June 18 tornado that ripped through the town of Siren, located some 70 miles south of Superior on Highway 35. (Photo by Sam M. Lucero) |
SIREN -- While many homes and businesses in a 30-mile swath were damaged or destroyed by the tornado that hit the area June 18, others were spared.
One building that survived the tornado is the new Lodge at Crooked Lake, located on Siren's main street. Buildings all around it, including a new strip mall on the other side of the parking lot, were destroyed.
The lodge is owned by Mark and Susan Lacek, who have a summer home near Webster and are members of St. John the Baptist Parish in Webster. According to Susan Lacek, Mark designed and built the lodge because Siren lacked a hotel. People just drove on through without stopping.
The Laceks sold the land around the lodge to local people who wanted to establish businesses that would complement the hotel -- a restaurant, movie theater, shops. Susan Lacek said the owners were just putting the finishing touches on their new premises at the time of the tornado. All of those businesses were destroyed. The newly build Lodge Center Hockey Arena was also destroyed. Mark Lacek had donated the land and $50,000 to the Burnett County Hockey Association to build it.
The Laceks see the fact that the lodge escaped undamaged as a miracle helped along by a little guardian angel, their daughter who died before birth due to an umbilical cord accident. "Our first daughter's name was Faith. We named her that because we knew we would need faith to get through (her death)," Lacek said.
The manager of the lodge called them at their Twin Cities home just minutes after the tornado to tell them what happened, Lacek said. Mark and Susan and their new baby, Emmy Hope, just three weeks old at the time of the tornado, went to Siren the following morning. Lacek said she was impressed by the faith of the people. Instead of lamenting what they had lost, people were focused on the fact that there weren't more fatalities. She added that people who had lost everything forgot their troubles for a moment and came up to look at Emmy Hope. "The baby was a bright spot, something to be happy about. People were looking for reason to be grateful."
Owners of the businesses destroyed around the lodge, as well as the ruined strip mall owner, have all vowed to rebuild bigger and better, Lacek said.
© Superior Catholic Herald, 2001