A Year Ago Today

A year ago today at 4:44 am, David and I were woken from the sounds of sirens coming from all sorts of directions, not just onto our street, but stopping short in front of our home and the home of our 80 year old widow neighbor. With 70% of Kathie's body covered in 3rd degree burns and inhaled way too much smoke, she died that morning and joined our Savior. The fire was caused by an electrical issue in her kitchen. I will NEVER forget this day for as long as I live. I saw smoke and I thought it was coming from her neighbors' house on the other side. I was trying to call Kathie to let her know that there was a fire and she needed to get out of her house. Her phone line was busy. I tried again. And again. Thinking for sure she must be trying to call the police herself and it wouldn't be unlike her to not have call waiting, I kept trying. All in the midst of me trying to get in touch with Kathie, I realized the firefighters (approx 20 or more) are really focusing on her house and in fact, they're climbing on her roof, breaking windows all over the house...all the while, I'm yelling out loud "they're such idiots, why are they all over her house, the fire is next door"...THEN (!) that's when it hit me like a ton of bricks...Kathie's phone is busy because it's on fire somewhere in HER house. I immediately ran outside and was stopped abruptly by firefighters telling me to stay back. All I could do is tell them they were looking for an 80 year old woman who lived by herself, 1 dog and a bunch of cats (all but 2 cats died).

Eventually the front door was sawdered and they were able to carry Kathie out. She was placed in an ambulance and I jumped in my car and followed them to the hospital where the line of questions came from medical staff and from me to them. A very kind firefighter shared with me that she did not make it.

The rest of the story is quite long...

Kathie was a beautiful woman who left behind 2 surviving children (2 had already past away years ago), 1 granddaughter, 1 great-grandson and a TON of friends and neighbors that she treated like close family. I had the privilege to be Kathie's neighbor for 3 years. She always came to the boys' birthday parties, she co-introduced me to MOPS & VBS at her church, I would bring her meals on occasion and we would very often speak of the recent neighborhood rift-raft. Kathie was 80 actual years, but certainly not 80 in her spirit of life and mentality. She was incredibly active, didn't look a day older than 65 or 70 and had no health problems.

Another neighbor and I were asked to speak at her funeral. We read this aloud...

Our neighborhood described Kathie as being...

• Inspirational
• Tenacious
• Gracious
• Genuine

One of Kathie's favorite aspects of our neighborhood is its diversity and the smell of different foods being prepared in each home.

Kathie stayed involved and for the most of us, became a member of our family by participating in birthday parties, weddings, baptisms and funerals. We could always count on Kathie to be there to celebrate the good times and console us during the challenging times.

Our neighborhood has been able to stay close-knit with Kathie as the foundation and the longest homeowner on the street dating back to 1959. Kathie stayed involved in the beautification of the neighborhood by staying on top of the rift-raft and the influences they would try to leave behind.

The good that has come from this tragic event has been the unity of the families left behind and uniting with the commonality of our love and respect for Kathie. The endearing impression that Kathie has left behind will always be remembered.

That was one year ago today. In present time, today the new homeowners started moving in. I have been praying for these new neighbors for the last year. I met them 2 weeks ago and they're well aware of the high expectations I have of them, since they're living in Kathie's house. ;-) They were very kind men (brothers) who thought I would really like their elder mom and their younger brother whom they bought the house for.

I am looking forward to the opportunity of getting to know new people and hopefully creating nice memories with them for however long we're in this home.