A beacon of hope
By Gretchen Ammerman
Oregon Coast TODAY
We were all laughing by the time I pulled into the driveway to visit Jean and Don Stuart. To help me find their trailer, sitting on a cement foundation among burned trees, automobiles and other detritus in the fire-ravaged Panther Creek neighborhood, Jean told me to “Look for the star." After watching me drive right past them twice, my eyes squinted, searching for the star at ground level, Jean finally called me and told me to look UP.
And there it was, the now-unmistakable eight-foot tall star bedecked with Christmas lights that helps bring a little positivity to fire victims in the area and elsewhere.
“We lost 28 big trees to the fire,” Don said. “We had one really tall one that hadn’t been cut down, so our neighbor Jack, who does some tree climbing, came out and put the star up for us. People just love it, pictures of it keep getting shared on Facebook and our neighbors come by all the time and say, ‘That star gives us all hope.’”
The Stuarts’ neighbors are used to seeing Christmas lights on their property, but usually a lot more of them.
“I normally put up over 100,000 Christmas lights on our one-acre lot,” Don said. “I lost over 30 years’ of Christmas decorations, including a full train set.”
Also a car enthusiast, Don lost two classics: a 1977 Mustang and a 1936 International pickup truck.
“I had just finished stripping the truck,” he said. “It was ready to go to the paint shop.”
Like so many victims of the Echo Mountain complex of fires that happened last spring, Don and Jean were not prepared and so grabbed just a few things, losing almost everything they owned.
But, standing in front of the rusting hulks of both automobiles, damaged beyond repair, Don and Jean are still all smiles and radiate positivity.
“I haven’t cried a tear over what we lost; it’s just things,” Don said. “God gave it to us and now he took it back, and that’s how we stay sane, although I have to admit, we never expected to lose everything in a wildfire.”
The couple had to dig a bit deeper to stay positive, though, when they were first allowed to start visiting the property again and discovered a sole survivor.
“We had a set of really nice wind chimes in the key of D that had been there for 10 years,” Jean said. “They were very long and took two people to hang, and they miraculously made it through the fire. I said to Don, ‘Wow, look, the chimes made it.’ The next day, they were gone.”
As the winter weather beats down on the property, the couple still work daily to salvage anything possible.
“Its dumbfounding how things are just disintegrating,” Don said. “The earth is reclaiming everything. It gets me down looking at it so I try to focus on more positive things like rebuilding and helping our neighbors as much as we can. I have always felt that you have to pay things forward, you can’t live just being greedy.”
Don also bumped into another thing that’s propping up his natural optimism.
“I was driving through Depoe Bay and so distracted I ended up crashing into a car in front of me,” he said. “It wasn’t that bad, but his bumper was definitely damaged and he started yelling at me. I said to him, ‘I’m so sorry we just lost everything in the fires and I’m still pretty out of it,’ and suddenly his whole attitude changed. He has ended up becoming a friend and actually doing things to help us recover from this.”
Grandson Josh Wingett
The Stuarts get a lot of strength from their family, which includes three children, six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, including now five-year old Josh Wingett, who was visiting the Stuarts when the fire neared their neighborhood.
“Josh loved my old truck,” Don said. “He would always go over to it and say, ‘My twuck.’ The first time he was able to visit the property after the fire, he went over to it, looked me in the eyes and said, ‘I sa-wee, Granpop.’”
The truck’s melted transmission transfer case and radiator will be among the items on display in “From the Ashes,” a show featuring pieces salvaged from and inspired by the Echo Mountain fire. The exhibit will open on April 9 at Lincoln City’s Chessman gallery, For details, contact Gallery Director Krista Eddy at 541-992-4292.