Area family members reflect on experience of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition nearly a month later

by Kelli Boylen
freelance writer

Only those who have been living under a rock wouldn’t know that "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" recently completed a project in northeast Iowa.
From the hoards of volunteers (they had so many they had to turn people away), to fundraisers, to national celebrities being in the neighborhood, it was all pretty hard to miss.
Audrey (Troendle) Gibbs was widowed in August 2000 when her husband, Jon Gibbs, died of cancer. She continued milking the family’s cows for a few months, and then turned to her cosmetology degree to support her family. Seven months following the loss of her husband, Gibbs suffered a brain aneurism that affected a quarter of her brain and has left her legally blind since May 2001. Her condition has the potential to be fatal.
After losing her site, she decided to obtain a degree in professional massage therapy, knowing it was something she could do if she lost her site completely.
The Gibbs’ farmhouse near West Union was in need of significant repair with no working toilet and a ceiling that was caving in.
Although she has lived in rural Fayette County for many years, the Gibbs family has plenty of ties to the local area. Audrey is the daughter of Joe Troendle of rural Waukon and the late Cathy (Honn) Miller, with numerous other relatives in the Waukon area. Her husband, Jon, was a brother to Mike (Cindy) Gibbs of rural Waterville.
Audrey attended school in the Allamakee Community School District before moving to the Postville area in the late 1980s and graduating from Postville High School in 1989.
Gibbs was nominated for the show by her friend, Carol Cameron. In August she learned she was one of several finalists who might be chosen for the show. Sunday, October 2, Audrey and her six children found out they were the lucky family and were whisked away for an all expenses paid dream vacation to Boca Raton Resort & Club  in Boca Raton, FL.
Her old farmhouse was razed by the end of that day. Then came the thousands of volunteers, including her father, James Joe Troendle of Waukon. “It was all pretty hard to believe,” Troendle says. “In this day and age sometimes it seems like no one has the time to help anybody, but they came.”
Troendle says he helped from Thursday until the “Move that Bus” event Sunday, October 9. He says he laid a lot of sod, dug trenches, raked gravel and helped move some items back into the house. Other local volunteers painted, put things away and assembled furniture.
When volunteers arrived on site they were staged, and as the contractors needed people they would come and say how many people they needed and then volunteers set to work on their assigned task.
Volunteers not only helped with the actual construction, they fed other volunteers, provided first aid, and Audrey’s former massage therapy classmates from Northeast Iowa Community College even provided free chair massages to volunteers.
Mike and Cindy Gibbs tried to sign up to volunteer, but they were two of the hundreds of people turned away because of so many who wanted to help. “It makes me choked up to think about the people in northeast Iowa who are willing to help at something like this,” Cindy Gibbs says. “It is a wonderful place to be.”
Troendle had nothing but good experiences to share about working on the project, and he says that Bret Michaels is a “super, super person.”
Michaels is a musician, best known as the lead singer for the '80s and '90s rock band "Poison". In addition to being a musician, he is also an actor, director, screenwriter, producer and a reality television personality.  He also prides himself on his philanthropy work, including donating and fundraising for Parkinson’s disease, Barrow Brain Tumor Foundation, and the Camelot Therapeutic ranch which provides services at no charge to adults and children with disabilities.
In April of 2010, Michaels suffered a stroke. He was in critical condition, but was one of the lucky few to make a full recovery. Since both he and Gibbs suffered from aneurisms, he felt a connection and put his support behind the project. He spent half a day in Florida with Audrey and her family, and he then performed at an October 6 fundraising event held at the Waterloo Cattle Congress grounds. Troendle says Michaels even sent his daughter a huge bouquet of flowers as a housewarming gift.
“I know they are thrilled,” Cindy Gibbs says of Audrey’s family. “And we are thrilled for them.”
“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” airs Fridays from 7-8 p.m. Central Standard Time on ABC. The air date of the Gibbs family episode has not yet been announced, but it is believed that it will be sometime in December or January.
According to her family, Audrey is very limited to how much she can say about her family’s new home, and they are limited as to who they can let inside, until the episode airs.