One sunny spring afternoon, Jenny got the phone call no one ever wants to receive. In a moment, her life seemed to be reduced to a smoldering and smoky pile of rubble. A raging fire stole away the home her beloved Grandfather passed down to her. Will the devastating fire erase every heirloom, keepsake, and memory of him as well?
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Transcript
Host: Josh Rodriguez
On January 7th, the Santa Ana winds whipped across Southern California. These infamous winds rank far below the beautiful beaches, pristine weather, and Hollywood celebrities California is known for. Most of the time, the winds calm and go, and are often forgotten after a few days. However, when the conditions are right, and the already arid landscape is especially dry, a potentially hazardous situation can arise.
A neglected campfire, a series of random sparks, a rogue lightning strike. Any of the above, fueled by up to 80 mph winds, could produce a wildfire of monumental proportions. And that’s exactly what occurred on January 7th. Five massive fires swept across LA County, displacing more than 200,000 residents, destroying tens of billions of dollars worth of property. The Palisades fire alone has burned more than 20,000 acres. Thousands of homes and businesses and whole neighborhoods completely gone.
And that’s only one fire. At least four others were being fueled by the same winds, scattering embers and flames faster than our brave firefighters can handle.
As of this recording, the fires are still raging across Southern California, and containment percentages still very low. The pain and grief will linger long after the fires have been extinguished. Those displaced will have a long path back to any sense of normalcy. Many will have to settle into a new normal. Their keepsakes, possessions, and locations that hold many memories are now gone forever.
If you would, please remember all those affected in your thoughts and prayers. And consider contributing to the American Red Cross, the LA Fire Department Foundation, the Salvation Army, or any of the many relief organizations dedicated to helping those in need. Oh, and a quick tip from your trusted financial partner. Please double-check and verify how your funds are being used before you click donate. Unfortunately, with every tragedy comes a long line of scammers. Verify twice, click once.
Today’s episode deals with loss as a result of a house fire as well, but here locally. A life-changing event that also stole away many memories, keepsakes, and irreplaceable possessions. Glad you’ve chosen to join us. I can’t wait for you to meet the Grandpa’s Girl.
Welcome back to the Banking On You podcast. Your financial journey is a story worth telling. Let us walk beside you on the path to your success because here at West Community and Tigers Community Credit Union, we’re Banking on You. This is season one, episode two of the Banking On You podcast, The Grandpa’s Girl. I’m your host, Josh Rodriguez.
I’d like to introduce you to Jenny. Doesn’t she have a fantastic laugh? Contagious, infectious, joyful, all of the above, describe it to a T.
Jenny’s story began nearly two years ago on a sunny spring afternoon.
Jenny
You know, Missouri, like the weather’s up and down. So earlier that day, it was warm. So he didn’t have any shoes on. I had on like a kind of summery dress with some little slip on shoes.
Josh
St. Louis weather is unpredictable at best. An April afternoon can vary from a hopeful glimpse into the hot and humid days of summer, or a chilling reminder old man winter is not quite ready to loosen his frigid grip on our lives. This day, however, hope and warmth won the day.
Jenny
It was crazy. I was at work. I had like a normal day. My brother, he lives at home. My brother is mentally challenged and he can be at home by himself and he kind of can manage his symptoms, but sometimes he doesn’t realize when he’s hallucinating and when he’s not.
But it’s okay until something like this happens. So he called me and he said, can you stop by the store and get some items or whatever? And I said, okay. So I got off of work, I was at the store and literally 10 minutes away from the house, I’m going in and he called me back and he’s like, he’s real calm all the time, very soft spoken, not like the rest of the family.
And he goes, “the house is on fire.” And I’m like, what? He’s like, the house is on fire. I’m like, my God. Are you sure? What? He’s like, yeah, yeah, the house is on fire. And I just, I freak. I’m like, get out.
Josh
Alright, quick summary. Her home is on fire. Her brother, who as Jenny mentioned is disabled and deals with some deep mental and psychological challenges, is home alone with a family dog, who happens to be inside the burning home. Jenny is miles away.
Jenny
He’s like, I gotta go back in and get the dog. The dog won’t come out. And I’m like, no, don’t go back in. Call him. Don’t go back in. He’ll come out. Don’t go back in. I’m going back in.
Josh
Yeah, I have a feeling Jenny wasn’t laughing very much at this point.
Jenny
My family started out at Meacham Park in Kirkwood. And then my grandfather moved out to the Wentzville area when I was very young. So we lived in Wentzville forever. And probably my junior year in Wentzville, my mom moved us to Arizona. So I lived in Arizona for 13 years and I came back because I was a grandpa’s girl.
Josh
A grandpa’s girl. Interesting. Not a daddy’s girl, but a grandpa’s girl.
Jenny
My gosh, my grandfather was amazing. He was actually one of the first black men in Meacham Park to own a garage that he worked on cars. He inherited from, I forgot the name of the man that actually like handed it over to him. So he would like, he could just build cars from scratch. He could literally look at your car and tell you how much out of alignment it was. He was just amazing. He did that his entire life, but he was also an amazing musician.
He played the guitar by ear. He decided to try to learn how to read music like the last five years of his life. And his name is actually on some of the BB King albums, Freeman Ming, like he sat in on some of his sessions. But I will say that the entire family is very musical because my grandmother could sing and she could whistled like she whistled like a bird.
It just was so beautiful. And my mom could sing. So my mom actually even opened up for Tina Turner. So we all have some type of musical background.
Josh
Jenny’s grandpa Ming, known to others as Freeman Ming, passed away quite a few years ago. When I asked, Jenny couldn’t really tell me exactly when.
Jenny
Here’s the funny thing, I don’t know. This is so weird, I don’t know if it’s like a mental block. I don’t know how old he was and I can’t remember when. Like I always have to look it up. I remember he was a veteran because we buried him at the VA cemetery. But I can’t, I never can remember the date. I remember him getting sick and I remember him passing away at home. It’s like a memory block.
Josh
Freeman Ming lives on and on in the heart of this grandpa’s girl. So much so the details of his passing just never seem to stick. Her love for this incredible man is rock solid. You can hear it in her voice as she talks about him.
Jenny
He was in the Navy and he used to tell me these fantastic stories about being in the war until I had said something in front of my grandmother and my grandmother goes, you so foolish. He was in the Navy and he never went anywhere.
She was like, he didn’t even get to get on the boat. He worked in the office. She called it a boat. She was like, he’s like, it was a ship and it doesn’t matter. was still, when he used to sit outside with me and tell me these fantastic stories about how he was in the trenches and the guns were going off and you had to use one square of toilet paper. She was like, he never did any of that
He was a very good storyteller.
Josh
I love that. That was fantastic. But he served in a military.
Jenny
That’s all that matters.
Josh
You may have heard Jenny mention Meacham Park. It’s an important place. Meacham Park is a small neighborhood in Kirkwood where Jenny’s family lived before moving west. No, it’s about a dozen or so miles from the city of St. Louis.
Jenny
Kirkwood. Yeah, it’s off of Big Ben and it’s even smaller now because like the Walmart, there’s a strip they came through and they bought out a bunch of the homes. They kind of took them from people, but so it was like a little small neighborhood.
Josh
Meacham Park has a fascinating history. A history filled with hope, unity, generosity.
Jenny
And I recently found this out, Meacham Park was created because there was a white man named Meacham who bought up a bunch of the land and sold it to, I think it was four to six black families at a very low price so that they could afford to have the land that they were supposed to be awarded.
And I always wondered that because we were all related in this neighborhood. Like, I was like, how did we all, like all relatives end up in this one little neighborhood? I just found that out though. All I remember somebody else was telling me, and I looked up a little bit of it, his last name was Meacham. And that’s why it’s called Meacham Park. Yep. I had never, I mean, I grew up there. I still, you know, go back there all the time.
Never knew it until I started working at St. Charles Community College and my supervisor told me a little bit about that. She goes, have you ever looked into them? I’m like, not really. I’m like, we just all live there. I don’t know why. just thought we were a close family and decided to all, part of it, some of it’s gone, but some of it is still there and it’s still Meacham Park.
Josh
Back in the 1990s, small history book about Meacham Park was published, predictably named Meacham Park, a History. There, we read 159 acres of land was subdivided into plots by its white owner, Mr. LZE Meacham. Mr. Meacham then sold lots mostly to African American families. Originally, they were sold for $50, which was quite a bargain. However…
The average price per lot was only $15. The records show one lucky man named George Fares bought a piece of land for only $10. Wow, quite the investment. In 1892, the original plaque drawing of the subdivision, signed by Mr. Meacham himself, proclaimed, “…to henceforth be known and referred to as Meacham Park.” By this incredible act of generosity, many were able to chase and achieve the American dream, regardless of their skin color or social status.
Jenny’s great-grandfather was one of those who benefited from Mr. Meacham’s generosity, as did the forthcoming generations. Grandpa Ming and his family eventually sold his Meacham property for a larger plot of land in the country about 30 miles west.
Jenny
So on one piece of property, there’s like six acres, there’s my aunt, my uncle, her husband passed away several years ago. She’s like 101 years old, so it’s her house. And then there’s like, she has another piece of property in between there. And then it’s my piece of property. And I think they found Wentzville first and discovered it and started kind of looking into it. And my grandfather was like, well, where are you talking about? And they started coming out to Wentzville because somebody else from Meacham Park was already out there on Hopewell. And they just kind of started looking at land and they all bought some land out there and started started building and decided they wanted to be country boys.
I got the, I found the deed to the house and I think they paid $5,000 for the land and the house all together.
Josh
He wanted to become country boys. man, I love that. So therein lies the backstory to Jenny’s property and home, which if you remember in the present day, was on fire with the family dog still inside and Jenny on the phone with her brother.
Jenny
And he goes, the house is on fire. And I’m like, what, what? He’s like, the house is on fire. I’m like, my God, are you sure? What? He’s like, yeah, yeah, the house is on fire. And I just, I freaked. I’m like, get out. He’s like, I gotta go back in and get the dog. The dog won’t come out. And I’m like, no, don’t go back in.
Call him, don’t go back in because like every, we had a gas stove, we had a gas water heater, you know, our house was heated by propane. I’m like, don’t go back in, he’ll come out. Don’t go back in, I’m going back in.
So I’m freaking, I’m shaking and I have a lot of brothers and sisters and we’re all on WhatsApp, like it’s 25 of us. So I couldn’t, my hands.
Josh
Wait, did she say 25 brothers and sisters? I guess she did. Wow.
Jenny
25 brothers and sisters.
So my hands are shaking, I’m trying to call somebody. I’m like, just go on the app. And I went on the app and I’m like, my house is on fire. I need somebody to get to the house really fast. Hurry up, really fast. He was like, I called 911. I’m in the house, I’m trying to find the dog. I’m like, please get out, please. Just get out. I’m flying down the street.
By the time we get there, because my neighbors are also relatives, they’re over there, I think we all beat the fire department. We got a brand new fire department right there at the beginning of the street. So we’re like, how did we beat you guys? So we get there and literally my brother, my brother looks Hispanic, because he’s very fair skinned. You can tell the fire hit him. His skin is just completely dark, blown. He said, what happened?
He said he was sitting there and the dog was at the rear wheel. He kept going to the back of the house and scratching and barking at the doors where the fire was downstairs in the basement. And he was like, get over, stop doing that. Cause he was literally tearing at the doors. He’s like, stop it, stop it. And he was like, I smell something. And so he like, he said he sat there for a little bit. He said, then he said,
He felt like the house was foggy and he goes, man, what is that crackling noise? And he said he went, cause his room was in the basement. So he said he went to the basement door and opened it and the flames just like just burst and blew them out the back door.
Josh
This is known as backdraft. You know what? I’ve got an idea. To make the technical definition, which frankly I’m about to launch into, a lot less boring, let’s bring back that sweet blues track from earlier.
There it is, that’s the one. yeah, much better. Here we go. According to Wikipedia, backdraft is the abrupt burning of superheated gases in a fire caused when oxygen rapidly enters a hot, oxygen-depleted environment. For example, when a door to an enclosed space is opened. Backdrafts are typically seen as a blast of smoke or flame out of a door or window.
So…pretty much exactly like Jenny’s brother described. He flung open the basement door, causing a rush of oxygen-rich air into the oxygen-depleted basement. This created a backdrop explosion which blew him across the house, out the back door, and into their backyard. It’s an absolute miracle he wasn’t killed. Beside his entire body being covered in soot, he was unharmed. Incredible.
Jenny
So I get there, he doesn’t have any shoes on, the fire department’s, you know, trying to get the fire out or whatever. They got the dog out and he’s a white pit bull. He was like, total, I didn’t even recognize him. Like, whose dog is this running around? So we put him in like one of the cars or whatever. And I’m like, are you okay? Like, are you okay? He’s like, yeah, I’m fine. But he even say like, for a while he just…
He didn’t think it was a fire. And then the fire department was like, it was so bad down there, they couldn’t tell where the fire started. But they were like, we’re just amazed that the house didn’t blow up. He said, because where the fire was in the basement, that gas water heater was literally right there and it looked like the fire didn’t touch it.
The gas furnace was right there and it looked like the fire didn’t touch it, but it was like right in the middle of everything else that was burnt up. I’m like, that was nothing but God.
Josh
Yes, an amazing blessing, indeed. Physically, Jenny as well, her brother as well, her daughter who thankfully wasn’t home at the time is fine. Except for maybe suffering a case of mistaken identity, the family dog is fine as well.
Jenny
You think of the weirdest things possible. I laugh at it now. I don’t know why. I looked at the fireman and I go, can you get my pineapple out of there? It’s like a fruit pineapple. I’m like, And he goes, it’s kind of Cajun. It’s cooked now. It’s…I don’t think you want it.
Because I guess in my mind, I’m thinking, you said the fire was in the basement, so the upstairs should be OK. I hadn’t been in the house at all at that point. And they said it was kind of dangerous for us to go in because it was so bad. you know, so I didn’t really go in. The entire house was the smoke damage amazed me because even though the fire was in the basement, the house was totaled, especially on the end where the fire was. It looked like the fire made it upstairs because it did start to come up through the vents. So it was a lot of damage.
Josh
We’ve all been asked this question before. If your house was on fire and you can only grab one item, what would it be? The novel my father was never able to finish before succumbing to cancer? Or maybe my son’s elementary school journals that I kept all these years? Or maybe that certain book in my office with the dried up rows smashed between pages 118 and 119. What would I grab first if I had the opportunity. What would I choose to leave behind? In those precious few moments, what would I treasure most?
Yeah, that doesn’t happen in real life. One moment, it’s all there, and the next, gone. No time to plan. No chance to save your favorite treasures. It’s that quick.
Jenny
I didn’t go in actually until probably about a week later.
Josh
So what did Jenny find when she was finally able to enter her home? What was the full extent of the damage? Was anything left? To find out, join us next time for part two of the Grandpa’s Girl.
Thank you so much for listening to the Banking On You podcast. Please follow us on all the socials @BankingOnYoupod. For show notes and additional info, visit our website, bankingonyoupodcast.com. And let’s not forget about our incredible team. None of this would be possible without you. JD Sutter is our producer and Gandolf of sound design. Graciously enduring all of my speaking errors was our studio engineer, Dave Powell. Your patient man, Dave.
Huge thanks to our marketing and branding team led by Kimberly Berzack, Ashley and Brian, you guys are awesome. The Banking on You podcast theme was composed by none other than Russ Whitelock. Thanks Russ. Our executive producers are Jason Peach and Karen Greubel. The Banking on You podcast is powered by West Community and Tigers Community Credit Union. And I’m your host, Josh Rodriguez. Until next time, remember, we’re banking on you.
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