Fire Destroys a Dream

In 1979, my mother and father – David and Gloria Wildermuth – had a dream to build and own their own home.  For many years they scrimped and saved and built their money up and we finally began.  My brother and I carried cinder blocks and bricks till our hands bled, we hammered well into the wee hours of the morning, we slathered mortar between the bricks to hold them in place, we sawed and chopped and cut for many months until it was finally finished.

This is our home – will always be our home.  There are memories wrapped up in this home – holidays, birthdays, celebrations – memories that cannot be replaced.  We moved into this home when I was just 12 years old.  There was a laundry room, a room for our woodburner and a place where my mother (who had arthritis really bad) could hang our laundry indoors, a huge kitchen with an island work station and connected dining room, a huge living room, bathroom, and separate rooms for my parents, my brother, and myself.  My brother and I had an unfinished bath between our rooms that we were to share – but we were in no hurry…and to this day it still remained unfinished but that was okay with us.  It became a toy room for us and later a closet for my sister.

At 8 a.m. this morning, a fire broke out in my ancestral home.  My sister and two nieces were woken up by my little nephew, Shane, only 4 years old, alerted my sister to the fire in the living room.  By the time they were able to get from the bedrooms to the living room where the fire started, it was apparently already engulfed in flames.  My sister tried everything – water hose, buckets of water – but nothing could stop it.

This is what our ancestral home looks like today:

The Republican Herald (our local newspaper) did an article here and will have more information available tomorrow they reported. The local news station, reported the fire on the 5 o’clock news this evening also which you can view here (if still available): http://wnep.vid.trb.com/player/PaperVideoTest.swf

The only roof remaining is the roof over our back porch.  The entire inside of the home is gone, destroyed.  The local Red Cross chapter is putting my dad and sister and the children up in a hotel for three days, but after that, they are homeless.

My dad is 63 years old, and on monthly medications that total over $120 each month.  He lives paycheck to paycheck and this is just devastating to him.  My mother and he built a life, a family in this home.  It is where she died, and where he refused to change anything so that it would always remain “her” home.

I have set up a Wildermuth Family Fire Fund.  If you would like to donate anything to help my family, you can do so via the donation button below.  If you would like to donate clothing, household items, toiletries, necessities, etc. you can EMAIL ME HERE and I will get you sizes and what ever else you need for the family and an address where you can mail items to.

As you can see, the Universe is unforgiving.  Told you I had first hand  experience with Karma being a beotch.

I thank you on behalf of my father, my sister, and my nieces and nephew – for any assistance you can offer.