Richard Reim has spent the 15 days since the June 1 tornado recovering, mourning, thanking heroes, reliving those few seconds at Village Green Family Campground, planning his return there, and hoping to get back to roofing but knowing he may have disabilities.
Richard R. Reim, 52, is recuperating at the East Longmeadow Skilled Nursing Home from injuries he sustained during the June 1, 2011 tornado while in his recreational vehicle in Brimfield. His girlfriend, Virginia L. "Ginger" Darlow, who was with him at the time, died from her injuries. At left is the home administrator, Patrick P, Arquin. At right is Robin L. Mitchell, evening supervisor.BRIMFIELD – When his Winnebago went over on its side in the tornado, it felt almost gentle, not like it was being slammed, Richard R. Reim recalls, and when it then lifted it in the air, it felt like going up in an elevator.
But the 32-foot motor home camper was smashed to pieces on landing, Reim was badly injured and his girlfriend, Virginia Darlow, was killed.
Virginia "Ginger" Darlow
After being treated for five days at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester for five days, he has been staying at East Longmeadow Skilled Nursing Home.
His movements are limited because of six broken vertebrae and he has headaches from a concussion and some pain from having bruised ribs, scrapes everywhere and a couple of teeth knocked out.
In the foreground is the Jeep belonging to Richard R. Reim, 52, and in the background, the recreational vehicle he shared with Virginia L. "Ginger" Darlow, 52. Reim was injured and Darlow died in the RV during the June 1 tornado in Brimfield. Reim, who is 51 and from the Three Rivers section of Palmer, also has enough of a sense of humor to make jokes about the ignominy and nuisance of having landed from his whirlwind flight in a patch of poison ivy and having gone two days with a 2-inch twig impaled in his buttocks.
Today he plans to be at calling hours in Holden for Darlow, the kindest person he ever knew.
He said they were together for 10 years and he is struggling these past weeks with the memory of calling out to her for 10 long minutes without knowing where she was and without being able to get up or crawl.
“My girl was in my arms when we were flying in the Winnebago and I could not help her,” Reim said. “It is completely devastating.”
The strongest of three tornadoes to touch down in Western Massachusetts June 1 left three people including Darlow dead and destroyed homes, businesses, and large swaths of forest.
It was on the ground for 39 miles, moving east from Westfield to Charlton with winds reaching 160 miles per hour and a National Weather Service rating of EF3.
Reim and Darlow were staying the summer at Village Green and had just returned with groceries from Springfield when campground owner Lester Twarowski and others shouted warnings to the 20 or so campers on site that a tornado was approaching from Springfield.
The couple talked about going to the basement of one of Twarowski’s two houses on the grounds where he always offers shelter for tough storms, but Reim said that they had just come from Springfield where the weather seemed uneventful and the sun was shining so they figured they had a few minutes.
When the hail started they felt there was still time before walking up to the house but when the tree crashed into the Winnebago and the wind roared like the sound of locomotives, there were just seconds to rush into their camper, and then into its bathroom, which Reim said seemed like the best option at the moment.
He had quick second thoughts on that when he looked at the glass shower door just inches away but at that point all options were gone but holding each other tight.
“The Winnebago turned on its side and the bathroom was on top of us. It did not slam us or anything. It just turned us. It felt the way it feels going up like an elevator. I just held her, so damn tight,” Reim said.
“The next thing I knew, I was looking up in the sky. I saw trees look like toothpicks, I saw campers torn into debris like somebody put them in a big mixer bowl. She was nowhere around me. I yelled for help. In 10 minutes a guy came by. He said he saw my 32-foot Winnebago 35 feet in the air,” Reim said.
As a couple of men started to remove debris from Reim, he said he told them to find his dog, Daisy, who would be looking for Darlow.
“They got me out,” Reim said.
A little later, one of the men came to Reim and said it had taken 20 minutes to uncover Darlow.
“One of them came back and just said, ‘Sorry.’ I did not say a damn word. I was just scared,” Reim recalls.
By then there were ambulances at the campgrounds, and emergency responders, the Twarowski family and other campers formed a human chain and passed Reim on a stretcher uphill through debris, which was everywhere with all the trees down and 95 of 97 campers and trailers destroyed.
Word arrived that another tornado was approaching during the two hours it took to move Reim to an ambulance.
“Those people all stayed with me like heroes.” Reim said. “Lester’s whole family was out there helping. I saw people bandaged up who were still helping. They rescued me and another lady and who else knows. It was unbelievable. I owe them all my life. They did what they could to save my girl, but she died instantly.”
He was taken to UMass Medical Center where he was treated and put in a full torso brace. “I got fantastic care there,” he said.
Reim is also thankful to the American Red Cross, Vital Ambulance Service which gave him free transport to East Longmeadow Skilled Nursing Home, where he has appreciated the treatment and concern he has received from the entire staff.
During his rehabilitation stint, Reim has also been grateful for attention and help from the Twarowski family, from Springfield lawyer David Meck, whom he had done snow plowing for last winter, from the Tzu Chi Foundation and others in the community.
Reim said he would like to get back to Village Green this summer, to help the owners rebuild and, when he can, to live there again.
“They really meant it when they put the word family in the campground name. They care about the safety of kids and all of the campers. They look out for you. They have strong guidelines and they are very reasonable,” he said. “I would be foolish to go anywhere else. Does a tornado ever hit the same place twice?”
Reim said Wednesday he was feeling better and hopes he will be able to get back to roofing work at some point, even though he knows he may be limited by physical disabilities.
“I have some people waiting for me to do some roofing. I can still supervise people. As for going up on a roof, I cannot answer that now. Medically, if I can, I will go. Work is a healthy thing,” he said. “If I can’t do roofing, I will rake. I will walk around and pick up after dogs. I will be an asset to the community until I die.”
He would also be interested in talking with other people who have gone through trauma, whether in this recent storm or otherwise.
“People talking with me has been the strongest medicine I had,” Reim said.