Caroline Dombrowski, 84, of Crystal Lake, stands at her backyard gate next to her home as she talks about the tree layong across her home from a storm the night prior on Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021 in Crystal Lake. Dombrowski recalls planting the tree as a sapling in 1963 and vividly recalls the 1968 tornado that came not far from her home. (Matthew Apgar)
Sam Lounsberry is a former Northwest Herald who covered local government, business, K-12 education and all other aspects of life in McHenry County, in particular in the communities of Woodstock, McHenry, Richmond, Spring Grove, Wonder Lake and Johnsburg.