Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Friday, April 30, 2004
Remembered for love of outdoors
There's comfort in knowing that her brothers Al and Steve are together, Linda Toepke said.
Al Toepke, 30, the son of David and Sharon Toepke of Winona, died early Saturday after being hit while walking across the interstate in West Memphis, Ark.
His brother, Steve, died in June 1997 in a canoeing accident in Alaska.
"It's pretty tough," said Linda Toepke, 23. "But the one thing that I think brings a lot of peace to us is that those two boys are together. They're together, and they're having a good time wherever they are."
Al Toepke and his fellow Midewin Interagency Hotshot Crew firefighters were returning to their home base in Illinois on Friday after a fire assignment in Florida's Apalachicola National Forest.
Among the crew is Toepke's long-time friend Vance Hazelton. Both men graduated from Winona Senior High School in 1992.
The group stopped in Arkansas to rest for the evening. Toepke and Hazelton were walking across the interstate when they were struck by a semi-truck.
Hazelton survived the accident and is being treated for his injuries in Tennessee, said Sharon Toepke, whose daughter Beth is Hazelton's girlfriend.
She added that Hazelton is expected to be moved to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., within a few weeks, and he hopes to return to firefighting by the end of the season.
Toepke's funeral is being held today in New Salem, N.D., near where he will be buried in the family plot, next to his brother.
The family thanks the Winona community, especially the congregation at First Congregational Church, for being supportive. A memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at the church, 161 W. Broadway.
His mother notes that Toepke was a tissue donor and, as a result, will be able to help at least 75 people.
The Toepke family remembered Al this week as an avid outdoorsman who loved to make people laugh.
"He could sit down with anyone and talk about anything they were interested in," Linda Toepke said.
"He's had so many heart-to-hearts with people that you would never expect, like my sister's and my friends from college," she said. "He just loved to get to know people and get to know what they were like and share stories and memories."
Toepke met Stacey Nelson while both were attending Winona State University. They moved to Bozeman, Mont., three years ago and were planning a September wedding.
Moving out West was Al's dream, his family says.
"He loved to be in the outdoors," Linda Toepke said. "It was very important to him to be out hiking and biking and snowboarding and hunting with his family and fishing and fly fishing."
Sharon Toepke said her son was protective of the natural environment.
"When he would go to a campsite, it was always cleaner when he left," she said. "He never left a mess, and if somebody else did, he cleaned it up."
Linda Toepke says one of her favorite memories of Al is a ski trip the three siblings took with their significant others last December.
"It just happened to be the best powder of the season," she said.
The group went tubing, built a bonfire.
"It was just good to be with my brother and my sister and the people that they loved so much … That was really the first time that all six of us had been together," she said.
Being with friends and family members, again, is getting the Toepkes through this week, the family said.
"We have a lot of close (relatives) ,and we have a lot of close friends, and our church family has helped us," Sharon Toepke said. "We're doing what we can each day."
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