MIDLAND AREA STORIES
THE BOGAN FAMILY
By Alanna Hunt
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Engaged at the age of 14, Carol and Len Bogan have lived this out since the 1970s.
“Do you know why we’re still married after all these years?” Carol asked.
“Jesus. And you’re great,” Len replied.
They exude love in their home, in their church, and in their work. Len serves on the elder board at Midland Evangelical Free Church and also works for Midland’s Open Door, and Carol is a peer mentor and transplant coach at the University of Michigan Hospital.
Open Door is an organization that aims to restore hope and transform lives. They desire to see the homeless, hungry, and hurting experience the life-transforming power of the gospel of Christ.
Carol is a Leukemia survivor, and she is working on a book titled “Cancer Camp: Thriving in the Wilderness of Cancer.”
“It’s going to be a book; it’s going to be a program at the hospital. Like when you have your knees or hips replaced, they take you to joint camp: they tell you where to go, what to expect, what to have ready at home—same thing for cancer,” Carol said.
They have moved from Illinois, to Pennsylvania, finally to Michigan to call the historic and unmistakable “igloo house” their home in 2012.
Carol and Len Bogan are no strangers to the flood waters in Mid-Michigan. In the time they have lived in their home, it has flooded twice. Sturgeon Creek runs through their backyard, which connects directly to the Tittabawassee River. Heavy rains caused the Tittabawassee River to reach historic flood levels in 2017, damaging the Bogan home along with many others. Not long after they recovered from 2017, the dam failures of May 2020 struck their home.
Carol was down in Missouri when she heard that the water was going to hit. “We called for help to move our stuff when we heard that water was coming. We expected three people, and 50 showed up,” Carol said.
The Bogan’s pour out love to their community daily, and when the flood was coming it was repaid back to them. With the help of all those people, the first floor of their home was cleared out and those belongings were saved from the flood waters.
“We were expecting water levels up to our ankles, not the entire first floor of our home submerged,” Carol said.
At the end of December is when the house’s worth gets discussed for tax purposes, and they can only hope that the flood damage and how long repairs took will be taken into account.
PHOTOS FROM THE BOGAN FAMILY
The Weaver Family
By Rachael Yadlowsky
Retired couple, Sherry and Bob Weaver were living in a Thornbrooke Condos unit in Midland, MI when the four dams in the Midland-Sanford areas broke and their home was filled with two feet of water. The residents of the complex, consisting of 47 units were given just a days’ notice before the dams would fail. The Weavers, along with many other residents moved make items to the upstairs lofts in their units and left the items that they couldn’t take.
“Once the water went down, we were able to see what was ruined and what wasn’t,” Sherry said. “It was kind of funny, we lost a couple items from water, but we also found a lot of valuables that were taken by the water from other people’s houses and we’re repairing them.”
After the water went down, which took about a day, some residents returned to their units to assess the damage. Due to the power of the water, five condos’ basements were caved in with dirt and water, but most of the damage consisted of basic damages that only reached two feet up the wall. After assessing damages, the city wanted to level the houses and saw them unfit for rebuilding.
Shortly after the flood, the Weaver’s son, Doug Loose bought all of the condos that the residents vacated and began demolishing, in hopes that he could repair the damages and sell the condos. The family started renovating and tearing down old electrical wiring, cutting out moldy drywall and shoveling out ruining items from the houses and dirt and mud from the caved-in basements. After waiting since June for a building permit, Loose finally got one and has started rebuilding the units for sale.
“I’m relieved that I finally have the building permits,” Loose said. “We can finally start putting up new wiring and installing furnaces and getting things ready for sale.”
The Varnum Family
By Lauren Garchar
When several faulty dams gave out in Midland county and the surrounding areas it left residents with only one choice; to rebuild.
Cheryl Varnum and her family reside in Midland, Mi and were affected by the floods, alongside most of her neighbors. As a unit they decided to team together to get through the hard times and reconstruct their homes after the damage. Varnum and her neighbors have been ripped off by several contractors, and have been given minimal financial relief.
Varnum states, “The only thing we have ever received is a $1,200 check from FEMA and they claimed that was for two months worth of rent.”
Varnum has spent a copious amount of hours attending city counsel meetings, in addition to her efforts of contacting the states representatives. She has demanded attention to be brought to the affected victims, but feel her efforts have not gotten her any where. Varnum stresses the importance of these organizations making changes for future crisis victims.
Varnum shares, “I have my house… but not my home and that’s what bothers me the most.”
In a trying time, it has shown that community is single handedly the most important thing in a time of crisis. In a emergency where there is no one to lean on, it is important to lean on one another. Varnum and her neighbors have stuck together through this tough time and have grown remarkably close.
As Varnum and her family continue to rebuild their home they will continue to deal with the aftermath stresses from the flood. Although each day is difficult, Varnum continues to see the positive in an extreme tragedy.
PHOTOS FROM THE VARNUM FAMILY
The Mikkelsen Family
By Brice Tucker
CJ and Linda Mikkelsen retired from their jobs in Dallas, Texas and bought a mid-century modern home in Midland Michigan last fall, because they wanted to spend their retirement in something that they considered architecturally significant. Midland is known for its over 400 Mid Century Modern homes that dot the city. After the recent flooding this summer the Mikkelsen’s, like many other owners of mid-century modern homes in Midland, were forced to evacuate and now must deal with the aftermath of restoring their historical home.
The Mikkelsen’s street, Valley Drive, which is home to many Mid-Century Modern homes, was particularly hit hard by the flooding in midland. Despite this the Mikkelsen’s are one of the only families on the street who are still currently living in their home.
They were spared from major structural damage to their home because their home was built mainly out of stone masonry and plaster, it also was built with a second story unlike many of their neighbors, whose ranch style homes, and wooden structures were devasted by the flood waters.
During the flooding the Mikkelsen’s were forced to evacuate but were able to move most of their belongings to the second floor of their home, before having to leave. The flooding wasn’t able to damage the masonry of the home but destroyed much of the wood paneling that covered the walls of the home. This wooden paneling that was ruined and left moldy by the flood waters must be restored or replaced by craftsmen with expertise in mid-century modern homes. But with many homes like the Mikkelsen’s being damaged there are long wait times for these types of repairs to happen.
The flooding may have not reached their belongings on the second floor, but it did ruin all of their kitchen appliances and covered their bottom kitchen cabinets with contaminated flood waters, rendering them unsafe and unusable. These cabinets too, can only be replaced by craftsman copying the specifications of the original architect’s design for the cabinets. These specifications are incredibly important to follow, down to the handles on the cabinets that are themselves individually unique to the home.
The Mikkelsen’s are using the damages caused by the flood waters as an opportunity to make restorations to their home that will be truer to the original design of the home. They will be starting with their badly damaged kitchen and downstairs paneling. Despite having their dream home destroyed by flooding a mere year after moving into it, they are now ready to take part in the work of restoring the “Kendall Residence” to a condition more reminiscent of its original design.