Log cabin under tornado-damaged home to be repurposed

PERRYVILLE, Mo. — “I hate to see her go, because she saved my life and my wife’s life,” Kevin Schemel said Friday of his house that was built around an 1886 log cabin.

The Feb. 28 tornado that struck Perryville damaged the house beyond repair.

“Parts of her will go into another home and give another family a chance to survive storms or give its character or spirit to their house as well,” he said.

Schemel decided to gift his next-door neighbor of 21 years, Alan Huber, with the logs from the original structure to be used in the foundation of the new house to be built for Huber’s daughter, Samantha Dippold. Dippold’s great-grandmother’s sister and her husband had lived in the original log home.

“Through the years and through our endeavors of teamwork on the boundary lines, we’ve become very close,” he said.

The front of Kevin Schemel's house is seen Friday near Perryville, Missouri. A log cabin exists beneath the right half of the house.Fred Lynch

Schemel said anything in the house that was reusable was given to the volunteers who helped after the tornado.

“I stressed to them to please take something, because the house is going to come down into a big burn pile,” he said.

“A lot of them would pick up a little knick-knack paddy-whack off the shelf or a doorknob or a brick out of the yard as a memento,” he said. “Big items, too, like the electric furnace and central-air unit. We’ve gifted as much as we possibly can.”

Schemel invited his neighbor over to see the house and the wall of logs next to the basement staircase.

“Could I have the logs?” Huber asked.

Clark Thompson, left, and Roy A. Glass Jr. tear into a wall Friday that reveals the original log structure of Kevin Schemel's house that was damaged in the March 1 tornado near Perryville, Missouri.Fred Lynch

“You sure can, Alan,” Schemel replied.

“He and I both agreed,” Schemel said. “We’re going to save every log we can out of her, and it’s going to have a second life.”

A couple of Schemel’s childhood friends, Clark Thompson and Roy A. Glass Jr., came by Friday to help with demolition of the house.

Alan Huber also would be playing a major role with an excavator.

The tornado lasted between five and 10 seconds, Schemel said. With all the storm alerts and the alarm going off in the city, he decided to go to the garage to get two motorcycle helmets. His wife, Sandra Kay, already had gone into the basement to take shelter in a cellar. He put a helmet on and had the other in his hand for his wife.

The original log structure chinked with slack lime is revealed behind plasterboard and wood as demolition of Kevin Schemel's house begins Friday near Perryville, Missouri.Fred Lynch

“I opened the door to the kitchen from the garage. The next thing I knew, I was on my face. I think it was the hand of God that put me on the floor,” he said. “I witnessed the kitchen window blowing open. It was a brown tunnel of debris. I slid into the living room and saw that window blowing out.”

Schemel was trying to get to his wife. Finding the door to the basement in the dark, “There must have been a 100-mile-an-hour wind coming up the staircase after the basement windows blew out,” he said. “The good Lord shot me down the staircase. I hit the deck, stood up, felt around for my wife and found her. By the time I had her in my arms, it was over.

“The house saved us. We’re going to do our best to save the house for another family,” he said.

flynch@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3643

Pertinent address:

3070 N. Highway 51, Perryville, Mo.