Krystie DePue: Started a shelter after floods ravaged the town

(photo courtesy of Kurt Wilson, Jr.)

When it comes to heroes, we get a vision in our heads of super heroes and people who risk their lives to save others.

And, yet, there is an even larger group of heroes, many of whom you've seen profiled here: Ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

Krystie DePue, is one of those people who doesn't consider herself a hero. When her town experienced the worst flooding in its history, she was there from day one, feeding people and finding places for them to stay. On the first morning after pulling together a breakfast for six families forced from their homes, her husband and older children pulled on their boots and waded in frigid water to gather supplies before they perished from the only store in town.

Within a few days the extent of the damage was revealed. One third of the homes were damaged or destroyed. At this point Krystie was managing volunteers at a makeshift shelter set up at a local school. She worked 16 hour days coordinating people who came to donate their time or money to the cleanup. She confesses it was all a little overwhelming and that she just kind of fell into it. When recognized for her efforts she gave credit to the people in the town who really came together. 

As a wife of a pastor and mother of four homeschooled children, Krystie leads an active life. In addition she has her own business handmaking jewelry and bags with the history of the area in mind that she sells online at Etsy and from her Facebook page. She works with felt and wool, using "the same types of beads that were brought into the Upper Yukon River area in the late 1800s by the trappers and miners." Her lifestyle includes lots of family time cutting, splitting and stacking wood to heat their home and bringing water from the local well, one mile away. She probably is a super hero and definitely is one super woman!