Staff photo by Fritz Busch Former Comfrey Police Chief Jim Meyer talks at the 25th Tornado Remembrance Program at the Comfrey Community Center Wednesday.

COMFREY — Church bells rang and a civil defense siren wailed at 4:28 p.m. Wednesday, marking the 25th anniversary of the F4 tornado that demolished much of Comfreyon March 29, 1998.

A roomful of people listened to a panel talk on how the community responded to the unseasonably-strong tornado and helped rebuild the community.

A number of people gave thanks for the fact nobody died locally in the massive tornado some said was so wide, (a mile and a half by some estimations), they thought at first it was a wall cloud instead of a tornado.

Former Comfrey Police Chief Jim Meyer described the storm in detail.

“It was so black, I thought it was the end of the world,” Meyer said. “Then after all the darkness, I saw the light. I saw busloads of people from the Twin Cities come to help us clean up. I saw two ladies who were real heroes, the two Lindas (former Comfrey Mayor Linda Wallin and former Comfrey City Clerk Linda Friesen Weber). They put the town back together.”

“The Brown County Sheriff’s Office and Minnesota State Patrol were great in helping us right after the tornado,” said Meyer. “I was in shock. Then I witnessed the rebirth of the town. I’ll always be from Comfrey and proud of it.”

Former Comfrey Fire Chief Mark Warner, now the Butterfield Fire Chief, described the tornado in detail too.

“I remember radio communication was gone. The best thing was when all the fire departments came to help us,” said Warner. “We went house to house to find out if everyone was okay. We did this together. We did so much together. We met at the Church of St. Paul every day and talked about what we did the day before and what we needed to do that day.”

“What we didn’t realize is that after a while of cleaning up and working on rebuilding, we needed a break. It gets to you doing this day after day,” Warner said. “We just kept picking up and going forward. We’re here. We thank the good Lord we’re here. Thank you.”

Former Comfrey Mayor Linda Wallin talked about the unusual weather that included a blizzard forecasted just two days after the tornado.

She said former Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson visited Comfrey several times.

“He said Comfrey could be whatever it wanted to be,” said Wallin. “I learned first that a positive attitude was important. I learned not to sweat the small stuff. Most of our cleaning up was done in three weeks.”

She credited FEMA, the Salvation Army, American Red Cross, Region 9 Development, Brown County Disaster Support and Lutheran Disaster Assistance for providing lots of help.

“We learned a lot about cooperation. I think we accomplished that,” said former Comfrey Public School Supt. Robert Meyer.

“When I first saw the school after the tornado, I noticed one floor fell on another floor. Brick walls were demolished,” said Meyer. “We had no school for two weeks. We decided to keep our school staff and student body together. On April 3, 1998, the school board approved leasing the former Sanborn school. We used it for the rest of the current year and the next school year.”

Meyer said 80 mph winds blew a tent down and scattered other things around just prior to graduation, so the ceremony was held at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Comfrey.

The current Comfrey school opened in 2002 with a geothermal heating and cooling system with 200 wells dug 200 feet deep.

Meyer mentioned other unusual aspects of the new school at that time which included a pre-school daycare, combining the school and city libraries, two computer labs with Internet connections.

Former Salem Lutheran Church Board Chairman Wayne Redman said St. Paul’s Catholic Church let the two Lutheran parishes, which lost their churches in the tornado, hold Sunday night meetings in the Catholic church.

“We had services at Sturm Funeral Home for a while. Then we met in a cold storage shed before building a new church,” Redman said. “It was stressful dealing with insurance companies (regarding tornado damage), until we got a lawyer. One insurance adjuster said he thought the damage was caused by high winds. I told him he may be good at what he does, but he had no common sense. I don’t think he liked that.”

Redman said the community counted on St. Paul’s Catholic Church for many things including 17,000 meals served to anyone after the tornado.

“No wonder I look the way I do,” Redman said, creating laughter.

New Hope Lutheran Church was built on a neutral site after the two churches agreed to unite.

Loren Renberg, formerly of Faith Lutheran Church, spoke next.

“What is the value of volunteers? There is no dollar amount for it,” Renberg said. “People walked hundreds of acres, cleaning debris so spring planting could happen in 1998. We can be very proud to say we’re from Comfrey. Yes we can. What am I doing now? I’m getting older.”