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As thunderstorms swept through northern Illinois on Tuesday night, Patti Holbek tried to call her sister in Rockford, one of the areas affected by the severe storms.

When her sister, Lorene Joy Gerken, didn’t reply, Holbek sent her a Facebook message telling her she was worried and to call back. Her sister messaged Holbek saying “don’t worry, be happy” and that she had been busy with her grandchildren who were staying with her in her mobile home, which was under a large tree in a mobile home park.

About 10 a.m. the next morning as the storm raged on, Gerken was at home, in the 2500 block of South Main Street, with her boyfriend and two granddaughters when the tree blew over, crushing the back half of the trailer and killing Gerken, according to the Rockford Fire Department.

One of Gerken’s granddaughters was trapped standing in the bathroom, and Gerken’s boyfriend, trapped elsewhere, was calling out to the girls to tell them not to move, said Holbek. The younger granddaughter was able to get out through the front part of the trailer by herself, according to the fire department, although Holbek said that the granddaughter actually also had to wait for firefighters to open the door, as it was jammed. Gerken’s boyfriend and other granddaughter were rescued by the Fire Department within half an hour, according to officials.

Gerken, a mother of three, was 55 and was making plans for her birthday Aug. 25, according to her sister. “She was a big one on her birthday,” said Holbek, who last saw her sister July 28.

“She called me up around the 26th, crying her eyes out because her fish died,” said Holbek, who took her sister, who loved animals, to buy a new fish.

The youngest of six children, Gerken had “lived for her family” and grandchildren, said her sister. “I loved my sister with all of my heart,” said Holbek.

Jamie Leigh, Gerken’s daughter, has started a GoFundMe to raise money for her mother’s cremation. So far, almost half of the $5,000 goal has been raised.

“We will have a gathering with food to talk about our memories about Lori,” wrote Leigh in the description, including pictures of her mother smiling and making caramel apples. “She will be greatly missed.”

This story has been revised to indicate that Jamie Leigh is Lorene Joy Gerken’s daughter.

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