Temple Terrace couple survive house fire with son's help; feel thankful on Christmas

Dec. 25--TEMPLE TERRACE -- A teacup from a grandmother's first tea party with a granddaughter. A drawer of notes, drawings and photographs from children and grandchildren. A pair of sandals with small red embroidered flowers.

Not much was saved from Bill and Linda Taylor's home at 5621 Oakland Drive after a fire in the garage consumed the entire home just 10 days before Christmas. About 40 years of memories are now stuffed into six plastic garbage bags. Yet standing in their yard Christmas morning, describing the items they lost -- donut makers and muffin makers in the kitchen, the pinball machine and pool table in the gameroom and a big sign that read "Bill's Bar, never closed" -- the couple said they feel thankful.

"It could have been a lot worse, if it had gotten to the middle of the house we couldn't have gotten out the front door," Bill Taylor, 76, said. "It was truly a miracle."

It was about 6 a.m. Dec. 15 when Linda's son Bobby Wheeler walked out to his patio to drink his morning coffee. About 15 years ago Taylor and his wife moved to a ranch house across the street from his "mom and pop-pop", and then his wife's children moved in next door. He heard a loud crackling sound and happened to glance through the bushy trees that line his yard over to his childhood home, where flames were leaping from the garage.

The couple were still inside sleeping.

"When the smoke alarm went off I thought it was her alarm clock because we had to get up early to take the dog to the groomers, and we're retired so normally we just get up whenever we get up," Bill Taylor said. "When we woke up it was just an inferno."

Bobby's wife, Susan Wheeler, called Linda's cell phone and woke her up, screaming to get out of the house, as her husband ran across the yard to help his parents. Bobby was even able to find their yorkie Rosie hiding behind the couch as the flames leapt into his parent's kitchen. They escaped with little more than their pajamas.

The fire department is still investigating the cause of the fire, and General Motors and Chrysler are looking into whether the couple's Cadillac or Jeep caused the blaze.

The outpouring of help from friends, family and strangers has been overwhelming, Linda Taylor, 72, said.

The Red Cross has provided necessities like toothbrushes and about $400 for clothes, The neighbors have stopped by with donations and Publix giftcards, and their grandson set up a Go Fund Me page for his grandparents, called "Bill and Linda Taylor House Fire," that has brought in almost $1,500. Neighbors have volunteered to store any items salvaged from the home in their garages, regardless of the smell, and stopped by to offer smiles and warm words Christmas morning.

"It's amazing how kind everyone has been, course it might be the Christmas spirit," Bill Taylor said. "A lady just came by, wouldn't even leave her name, and gave us $100."

The couple moved into the home in 1977, when Bobby was a sophomore at Chamberlain High School. Linda Taylor and her three children moved from Miami to Tampa in 1960, and when Wheeler was 14 the family experienced another house fire in an apartment complex on Lambright Street that took nearly everything they owned and killed a man who lived above them.

"As soon as I saw the house I just loved it, we have a swimming pool in the back and a jacuzzi," Linda Taylor said. "I didn't want to live in an apartment again because of the fire, but I never thought this would happen twice. I already had a fire why would I have another one? And we were even talking about downsizing."

The house was known as the neighborhood party house -- where the Taylor's friends and families knew they could spend an evening after the bars closed. The couple are now staying in a hotel, renting a car and sorting through mountains of insurance paperwork. They can't decide if they want to move somewhere new or rebuild.

"I don't want to move away from my kids," Linda Taylor said. "I brought Bobby into this life and then he saved ours lives."

Many photos and videos of family outings with children and great grandchildren are destroyed, but this Christmas the family is still together to make new memories, they said.

The rest of Christmas was a low-key affair, ending with a family outing to the movie theater to see the lighthearted comedy "Daddy's Home." Most of the presents for their three generations of children were already bought and wrapped, and are now soggy and burned like the rest of their belongings. But a bag of chocolate Santa Clauses Linda Taylor bought for her grandchildren weren't touched by the flames. They didn't even melt, she said.

"I can't explain it," she said.

adawson@tampatrib.com

(813) 731-8093

@TBOadawson

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