By Sheldon Traver
Daniel Muzechenko leaned against his garage and into a torrent of rain on Dec. 19, five days after a tornado struck Aumsville.
At 85, his face is wrinkled with age. Weariness is evident in his expression and his eyes are swollen from fighting back tears.
He looks through the rain at his pale yellow house at 163 N. Sixth St. in Aumsville, which after nearly 50 years of ownership was remodeled, but now sits broken and tattered. His attic is visible through a large gap in his roof, partially covered in tarps to keep the moisture away from photographs and other memories tucked inside.
Outside, the home’s siding is streaked in mud. The foundation is cracked and one corner sags, crushed by debris. The jagged edges of broken wood and metal surround it, waiting for an excavator to haul it away. Muzechenko stares into the rain not knowing what his future will look like or whether he’ll ever be able to return.
Like so many others in Aumsville, Muzechenko’s life was dramatically altered at 11:40 a.m. on Dec. 14. Without warning, an F2 rated tornado dropped into the city’s core, tearing through businesses, homes and public buildings. It lasted just a few moments and left a swath of damage estimated at more than $1 million, but took no lives.
Now that the streets are clear of debris, Muzechenko, and his family are struggling to take the next steps to bring the life back together again.
During WWII, Muzechenko served as a gunner aboard the U.S.S. New Jersey. He fought throughout the Pacific theater, surviving Japanese kamikaze pilots and bombers before leaving the Navy shortly before the start of the Korean War.
He moved to Aumsville in 1961 and purchased his home for $5,000 when there were just 109 residents in the city. He wanted be closer to his work at the plywood mill so he could spend less time on the road and more with his family.
Through the years, he developed strong bonds with the townsfolk, including Ted and Juanita Nichol, whose plumbing business he lived behind.
“There used to be an alley that sat between us and when it wasn’t needed anymore, they split it up between me and Ted,” Muzechenko said. “I didn’t have hardly any room to move my truck in and out.
He told me he owned enough of this town and offered to sell me his part of the alley for $1. He drew up the papers and I gave him my dollar and he gave it right back with the papers and said I had paid for it.”
On Dec. 17, the former alley was finally cleared of the roof that used to sit atop T.G. Nichol Plumbing and plowed into Muzechenko’s home, driven by the force of more than 120 mph winds while he hunkered inside.
Muzechenko isn’t going through this experience alone. Immediately following the tornado, friends and family surrounded him. The day of the tornado he was given temporary refuge in the Aumsville Police Department and a cousin’s house before moving into his granddaughter’s home. The following days were filled not only with interviews with reporters, but an inundation of people offering to fix the house, leaving business cards, pamphlets and scraps of paper with names and e-mails scribbled on them.
“There were so many people looking for work,” Muzechenko said. “They just came and came for three days.”
Additionally, navigating a sea of insurance paperwork and requirements by Marion County before they can reenter the home has proven challenging.
“That’s the second tornado after the tornado,” said Denise McGill, Muzechenko’s daughter. “We have to decipher who, what, when, where and what happens next.”
There are contractors in the family who will help Muzechenko, first by shoring up the home so they can safely enter, then for engineers to determine whether the house can be saved.
“There are so many vultures out there and my brother-in-law has been able to help us with that,” said Del McGill, Muzechenko’s son-in-law. “We’ve just tag-teamed to help each other through this.”
Even with all the support, Muzechenko is overwhelmed at times. His mind is racing with thoughts of the past and the future.
“I’m numb,” he said through tears. “It’s hard to not know where I am going.” Denise McGill wrapped her arms around her father.
“This is his whole life,” she said. “We’ve lived here since 1961. What else do you know except going back to your house everyday for nearly 50 years.”
Despite the challenges and an uncertain future, Denise and Del McGill have been awed by the support provided by volunteers, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and their faith family. Muzechenko is now living with his granddaughter, Hollie McGill, and although tired, he still has a few laughs left in him.
“I have a good housekeeper now,” he said grinning.
“He’s pretty comfortable now,” Hollie McGill said. “He’s got his satellite TV and his newspapers. He still has to get along with my cat though.” She added that her grandfather is cooking good meals, which she particularly enjoys.
Though the tornado lasted less than one minute, it could take seven to eight months to repair the home, if it can be saved. If it can’t, Muzechenko doesn’t know what his next steps will be.
“Once everything is out and the house is boarded up, all we can do is wait,” Del McGill said. “We’ll pray for the right direction. So far God has sent us the right people for equipment, time and knowledge. We know we’ll make it through this regardless of what we choose to do.”
As Muzechenko stared through the rain at the home he raised his family in, he let out a loud sigh and moved on to complete another project.
“Nobody knows anything yet,” he said. “I’m pretty sure it will be torn down. Whatever happens is going to happen. There isn’t anything you can do about it.”
Photographs by Sheldon Traver, Dixie McCartney, and Jim Kinghorn
