Decorah employees feel the effects of Parkersburg tornado

Photo by Sheila Kruger, Decorah, Iowa
Generous donation - Rockwell Collins Senior Manufacturing Electrical Engineer Chad Kruger presents Parkersburg Fire Chief Bucky Nitcher with a check for more than $1,000 to assist with tornado relief efforts. The Northeast Iowa town was devastated in late May by an EF-5 tornado.

Chad Kruger will never forget the sound of the EF-5 tornado that ripped through Parkersburg, Iowa, and surrounding communities on Sunday, May 25.

A senior manufacturing electrical engineer at Rockwell Collins in Decorah, Kruger sat in the basement of his mother's Parkersburg home while the mile-wide tornado devastated the southern half of this Northeast Iowa town.

"I remember looking out the window and just seeing it go by," said Kruger, who associated the sound of the tornado with that of a freight train. "It's tough to imagine the devastation until you see it firsthand."

The proximity of our Decorah facility to Parkersburg, and the ties our employees have to residents of the community, prompted a fund-raising effort in Decorah for victims of the tornado.

The strongest tornado to hit the state in more than 30 years, the twister killed eight people, injured 50, destroyed 350 homes, and caused an estimated $6 million in damage.

That amount of devastation prompted our Decorah employees to organize a raffle, while also donating their own money and soliciting funds from their community. In the end, more than $1,000 was raised for tornado relief efforts.

"This is the kind of support I anticipated from our employees," said Kruger, who recently presented the check to the Parkersburg Fire Department, which sustained tremendous damage. "The people here in Decorah really come together.

"Four of the firefighters lost their homes in the tornado, and we really feel for them," said Kruger. "We wanted the money to stay in the community, and we're really glad we were able to help."

Team-building event in Decorah a success

Photo by Dale Hogenson, Decorah, Iowa
Team players - Members of the Rockwell Collins leadership team in Decorah, Iowa, posed for a photograph following an event at Chase the Adventure, a hunting preserve near Decorah.

Members of the Rockwell Collins leadership team at our facility in Decorah, Iowa, received first-hand experience with one of our company's most successful products recently, when they used our Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (DAGR) to navigate through a local forest preserve.

Part of a teambuilding exercise that helped solidify our company's five leadership principles - communicate masterfully, build powerful networks, unleash energy, execute flawlessly, and push frontiers - this event required teams to locate various clues and supplies using the product typically relied upon by soldiers traversing battlefields.

"Naturally, we wanted to win," said Mike Nelson, Decorah's new plant manager, "but halfway through, we realized that each individual must succeed in order for the entire team to succeed."

According to Kris Becker, senior manufacturing production control specialist in Decorah, solving some clues required additional initiative and resourcefulness. But, in the end, it was one of the best teaming events in which she has participated.

"We had to achieve set objectives and we had to rely on others," she said. "I also was amazed at what the DAGR does. It brought what we do to life and it made me more proud to be a part of Rockwell Collins."