Mark and Karen Benson, family, OK in Stoughton

Karen Benson and Tom Kiehne line up a putt

Tornadoes ripped through Stoughton, Wis., last week making some of our blog readers wonder about the welfare of residents Mark and Karen Benson. Emails inquiring into their situation went unanswered until Sunday night. Everybody in the family is fine, but the town is in tough shape, Karen writes. Here's her note:

"Mark and I were at the lake, and have just gotten home. We and the kids did not have any damage from the tornado. It went about a mile north of us. Pretty humbling, the force of mother nature. You have probable heard that one person was killed, about 20 people were injured, some hospitalized, I guess one individual is pretty serious.
Houses - about 15 destroyed and 59 significantly damaged. The roof of the Country Club was taken off. A number of new expensive homes along the country club were completely destroyed.
The day before the tornado, our church burned down. It was a new church that we built about eight years ago. It started in the school in the middle of the night.
I am sure there must be a lesson in all of this, however I am not sure what it is.
We and our family are all fine. Will keep you posted."

Karen