UPDATE: LYNCHES STILL FIND HOLIDAY SPIRIT Fire destroys family's home MARION, Ky. – Despite losing their home and virtually all of their possessions just one week before Christmas, the spirit of the holiday may have never been stronger for the Lynch family.
“It’s going to be okay,” said Melissa Lynch, just two days after an electrical fire that started in a child’s bedroom destroyed the family home on Adamson Lane just east of Marion.
Since the fire, Melissa’s cell phone has lit up with calls for offers of aid and comfort. The gifts and offers rolled in last Wednesday, even as her husband David dealt with insurance adjusters.
“We had a man drive up and offer us his last $20 bill,” Melissa recalled. “I know he couldn’t afford it, but he wouldn’t take it back.”
On Dec. 18, Melissa and David Lynch and their two boys – Noah, 5, and Dakota, 12 – could see the smoke from U.S. 60 East as they turned onto Adamson Lane after getting the call that their single-story frame home was on fire. The family had left earlier to attend a belated birthday party for Melissa’s father, who also lives with Lynches.
“Thank goodness Dad was with us or he would have been in there when the fire started,” Melissa said last Thursday. “I don’t know if he would have made it out.”
As it were, only Miss Maggie, the family cat, and several fish Melissa had collected for years lost their lives in the fire. But she, her husband of 13 years, her father and the two boys were helpless to stand by and watch their lives go up in flames and smoke.
“The kids were crying, and I couldn’t bear to watch it,” Melissa said. “I still can’t believe I don’t have my home.”
Lost in the home were clothes, family photos, the children’s toys, David’s equipment he uses to earn a living as an electrician and the part of Christmas that reminds children of the magic of the season – the tree and the gifts underneath.
“I had done it,” she said of providing the gifts and goodies for Noah and Dakota. “And I lost it.”
But making Christmas happen at the Lynches started as early as the night of the fire. The following day, as David and Melissa sifted through the rubble of what was once a home, an almost unheard of offer landed at their feet.
Marthamary Schrer, a Murray resident who saw the Lynch’s plight on a noon news telecast, offered the family the keys to a Crittenden County home in her possession. The offer of a year of rent-free living was more than Melissa would have ever expected.
“Some people have been angels,” she said. “Strangers have been more helpful than others you might expect.”
While the offer overwhelmed the grieving family, a young boy’s wish will keep them on the same property where he has spent virtually his entire life. Noah, the 5-year-old, did not want to leave the coon dogs, pot-bellied pig and a new cat his uncle found for him.
“Noah kept asking why he couldn’t sleep in his own bed,” Melissa said of her youngest child, who at the time the fire hit had been ill with influenza. “It’s been a rough week, but even if I can give them a small piece of home, it will mean so much.”
Instead of accepting Schrer’s graciousness, the family plans to move in a camper or some type of temporary housing on their property until a new house can be built. Melissa’s brother, Eddie Ricketts, who also lives next door in a mobile home he rents from the Lynches, put up part of the family the first couple of nights after the fire.
Despite losing the tools of the trade David undertook after being laid off from Saturn Machine and Welding Co., in Sturgis, pets, mementos and loads of meat stored in an outbuilding deep-freeze, it’s the boys who have suffered the most, Melissa said – Noah losing his bedroom and a remote control Hummer he was still asking for Thursday and Dakota losing all of his games he used to entertain himself and friends.
To start the healing, Vickie Collins and some of Dakota’s other sixth-grade teachers took him shopping in Paducah last Thursday.
“It was good for him to get out, but he didn’t buy a thing for himself,” his mother said. “He bought Christmas gifts for the family.”
Having lived here only about four years after growing up and starting a family in Union County, the Lynch’s tragedy has helped them learn a little bit about the place they call home.
“The people of Crittenden County are good people,” Melissa said. “I’m not leaving here.”
While David and Melissa were able to provide Christmas to their two children with the help of a community, the road back to where they were is a long one. But having spent nearly half of their own lives as a couple, their 15 years together has kept them strong. A miracle here and there also doesn’t hurt.
“I found my engagement ring in the ashes,” Melissa said. “The boys lost their glasses and we lost everything, but I found my engagement ring.”
Right now, a prayer is the first thing Melissa asks for when offers of help are made. And, she said no offer is too small to make a difference.
“Anything helps... at least I know people care about us.”
Anyone wishing to help the Lynches can call Melissa at (270) 952-7623.