It's official: Grubsteakers' owner a hero

OREGON – Ava Mirtoska likes being called a hero, even if she doesn’t necessarily feel like one.

What she did, she says, she would do every time in the same situation.

But there are people who owe their lives to Mirtoska, and this week she was honored by the Ogle County Board.

May 7 will be Ava Mirtoska Day in Ogle County. The County Board made the proclamation during its meeting Tuesday.

Mirtoska owns Grubsteakers restaurant, which was destroyed when a tornado touched down north of Rochelle on April 9.

The proclamation calls Mirtoska a hero for getting customers and employees safely into a storm cellar just before the EF4 tornado struck.

“We lost a landmark this month in Grubsteakers,” County Board Chairman Kim Gouker said. “It has been there as far back as I can remember. Ava runs Grubsteakers, and Grubsteakers is Ava.”

Mirtoska has owned Grubsteakers for 11 years. Previously known as the Sipe’s Corner gas station and restaurant, it had been a fixture with farmers and travelers since the 1940s.

Gouker said he had talked to several people who were at the restaurant when the tornado hit about 7 p.m.

“They said without Ava, we would have had some fatalities,” he said. “She made sure they got into the cellar.”

Looking back on that day, Mirtoska said she would do everything the same.

“I am glad everybody is safe,” Mirtoska said. “It is good they call me hero, but I feel like I would do it any time it happens. I hope it never happens again.”

She said the customers were her first thought when the storm approached.

“For a minute, I was not believing this was happening,” Mirtoska said. “I am seeing the craziness out there. Everyone was saying tornado warning. I was going, like, it’s just a storm.”

But when she looked out a window and saw the storm rolling in, Mirtoska knew she had to act.

“I was looking out through the window and seeing something coming really fast and really dark,” she said. “It was still too far to see if it was a tornado, but I am seeing something dark. That second I said, ‘Uh-oh, this is serious.’”

Mirtoska told her employees and customers to get into the storm cellar to take shelter.

“It was very fast and quick. I was trying to get everyone down,” she said. “I was trying to do this as fast as possible.”

After the storm, Mirtoska and 11 others emerged from the storm cellar uninjured. But the restaurant had been demolished. Immediately, the community rallied. Volunteers were on the property the next morning to help clean up.

“It makes me feel good,” Mirtoska said. “I am happy to be here, and I am happy to be around good people and everyone who helps.”

Mirtoska said she planned to rebuild the restaurant.

“My employees need jobs, and my customers need a place to go,” she said. “It’s so hard, with insurance, this and that, and everything.”

The location will change a bit. Because of setback requirements, the old restaurant, built in the 1940s, was too close to the intersection of state Routes 251 and 64.

Mirtoska employed 10 people at the restaurant. Several have received employment offers after the storm, and businesses reached out to Mirtoska to see whether they could help her rebuild.

“I appreciate everybody,” she said. “I always know I am around good people. I cannot thank them enough. I feel like I am around family with all this help.”