{"id":574,"date":"2022-06-21T15:06:09","date_gmt":"2022-06-21T19:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/small-town-big-world\/?p=574"},"modified":"2022-06-21T15:06:09","modified_gmt":"2022-06-21T19:06:09","slug":"gracie-vrieze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/small-town-big-world\/gracie-vrieze\/","title":{"rendered":"Everybody Knows Gracie Vrieze"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Profile Text: Madeline Phaby<\/em><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Gracie Vrieze, an interpreter for the Storm Lake Police Department, knows just about everyone in town. But she\u2019s known some longer than others: she estimates she witnessed the births of about 40% of the city\u2019s current population during her time volunteering as an interpreter in the Buena Vista Regional Medical Center\u2019s obstetrics department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow some of them are firemen, and now they look at me and they call me \u2018Auntie Gracie,\u2019\u201d Vrieze said, \u201cbecause in Mexico, you call them aunts, to the one that is with you when you’re born.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fact that Vrieze was present for the births of so many Hispanic Storm Lake residents is fitting, as she also witnessed the \u2018birth\u2019 of the city\u2019s robust Latinx community. When she and her new husband, Terry, moved to Storm Lake from Arizona in 1988 to be closer to his parents, Vrieze was one of only a few Hispanics living there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I first arrived here, there [were] actually only four of us \u2013 four Hispanics in the whole town,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd three of them were working at the [IBP] packing plant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vrieze said she never faced any overt racism upon moving to Storm Lake despite the town being overwhelmingly white at the time, but she did notice cultural differences between her new home and Arizona, where the Hispanic population was much larger. For example, in Vrieze’s home state of Sonora, Mexico, women tend to dress up on the weekends even if they aren\u2019t going anywhere. Vrieze said this practice caused confusion among some Storm Lakers, even her own mother-in-law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was looked at like, \u2018Who is she? Where\u2019s she going?\u2019\u201d Vrieze said. \u201cOr even my mother-in-law always asked, \u2018You get up in the morning, take a shower, get dressed and put makeup on, and you get all dressed up just to be in on the weekend?\u2019\u201d

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We have Oriental [sic] officers, we have Caucasians, we have Hispanics. We have colored [sic] officers also. So we are a rainbow department, which makes us unique. It\u2019s kind of nice, because you cannot say, \u2018Oh, he’s picking on me because I’m Hispanic,\u2019 because it might be a Hispanic [officer].<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Vrieze worked at the IBP (now Tyson) plant when she first moved to Storm Lake, but she applied for a job at the police department in 1993. By that time, the city\u2019s Hispanic population was rapidly growing, and the department hired her as an interpreter. In the nearly 29 years since she arrived, Vrieze has seen the makeup of the department become considerably more diverse, which is reflective of the way the city as a whole has changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have Oriental [sic] officers, we have Caucasians, we have Hispanics. We have colored [sic] officers also. So we are a rainbow department, which makes us unique,\u201d Vrieze said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of nice, because you cannot say, \u2018Oh, he’s picking on me because I’m Hispanic,\u2019 because it might be a Hispanic [officer].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vrieze was with the department for about three years when one of Storm Lake\u2019s greatest tragedies occurred: the 1996 Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) raid of the IBP plant, in which dozens of undocumented workers were arrested; some were even deported. Vrieze herself was not present when the raid occurred, as she was at Disneyland with her family. However, many Hispanic Storm Lakers felt betrayed by her because they mistook one of the INS agents for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of the agents in immigration was a female, and it looked like me, and a lot of Hispanics thought it was me, the one going after them, and I got blamed for not telling them or letting them know that immigration was coming in,\u201d Vrieze said. \u201cAnd at the time, I had no clue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though she didn\u2019t return to Storm Lake until about two weeks after the raid occurred, Vrieze was aware of the severity of the event, and she witnessed a wide variety of reactions from different members of the community. Some white people were glad it happened. Some were upset that INS didn\u2019t detain all <\/em>the city\u2019s immigrants. The Hispanic community, many of whom had relatives arrested during the raid, was gutted and desperately seeking help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSome people came to the police department to see what they can do for my cousin or my grandma or my mom or something like that,\u201d Vrieze said. \u201cBut we direct those people straight to the immigration department because we don’t deal with immigration. So I did not have the answers for them.\u201d Many got the support they needed from their neighbors in town, though. Storm Lakers were quick to step in and take care of houses, kids, and pets for those affected by the raid. As Vrieze would quickly find out, the community\u2019s constant willingness to help is one of the best things about living in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2006, Vrieze was diagnosed with cancer and forced to miss 11 months of work. Her neighbor immediately stepped in and arranged for a member of the community to bring her family dinner every night for the entire 11 months. \u201cThe whole town came together for my family,\u201d Vrieze said. \u201cThat is something you don\u2019t see very much. So I am glad that I’m here because the residents here are \u2013 it\u2019s a good town. It\u2019s a very good town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vrieze and her family were again struck by Storm Lake\u2019s generosity in 2013, when she and her husband Terry adopted two of her nieces in addition to their four biological children. The younger niece, Montserrat, was just 18 months old and in desperate need of a liver transplant. Once again, the community rallied behind the Vriezes and raised the funds necessary for the transplant. Montserrat is now 10 years old and perfectly healthy, largely due to the community\u2019s fundraising efforts. \u201cThere was an article in the paper about her with us and her story. We were on Channel Four in Sioux City also to try to collect funds to try to do her surgery and stuff. So it’s a wonderful story,\u201d Vrieze said. \u201cShe’s becoming a beautiful girl, and she’s still alive, which is wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, Vrieze is once again undergoing treatment for cancer, but she\u2019s showing no signs of slowing down. She said she has no desire to retire any time soon, nor does she ever want to leave Storm Lake \u2013 mainly because her four grown children still live in the area. \u201cI like to be involved with people. I like to help people and I like to interact with others. So I think I will be bored if I just go home,\u201d Vrieze said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though Storm Lake\u2019s generosity toward Vrieze\u2019s family during their times of need is a testament to the city itself, it\u2019s also demonstrative of how beloved she is within the community. Because everyone in the city knows and loves Gracie, they also love her family members by extension \u2013 even if they don\u2019t know their names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEverybody knows who Gracie is in town. So my husband gets kind of mad; he feels kind of left out because it’s like, \u2018Oh, hi you\u2019re Gracie’s husband. Oh, hi, you\u2019re Gracie\u2019s daughter. Oh, you’re Gracie\u2019s son,\u2019\u201d Vrieze said. \u201cThey never know any of my family members by name.\u201d Despite any annoyance Terry Vrieze may feel at Storm Lakers not knowing his name, he\u2019s undoubtedly aware of how special his wife is: upon meeting new people, he introduces himself not as Terry, but as \u201cGracie\u2019s husband.\u201d

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Profile Text: Madeline Phaby Gracie Vrieze, an interpreter for the Storm Lake Police Department, knows just about everyone in town. But she\u2019s known some longer than others: she estimates she witnessed the births of about 40% of the city\u2019s current population during her time volunteering as an interpreter in the Buena Vista Regional Medical Center\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3041,"featured_media":733,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vrieze-gracie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/small-town-big-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/small-town-big-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/small-town-big-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/small-town-big-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3041"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/small-town-big-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/small-town-big-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/small-town-big-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/small-town-big-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/small-town-big-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/small-town-big-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}