With firefighters’ help, Santa Rosa family recovers fallen soldier’s military belongings lost in fire
With just minutes to flee from her
Arriving at her brother
"My heart just dropped to my stomach," Stephanie recalled. "I don't have anything. I have nothing to hold onto."
The Okrepkies' rented home in
He was the third
"The look on her face was heartbreaking,"
But the story of profound loss changed almost magically when the dog tag, burned a dark reddish-brown with the lettering mostly obliterated, emerged like a
Ten days after the outbreak of the Tubbs fire, the most destructive in state history, Jeff got back into
The crew of Ladder Truck 2 began helping Jeff sift the ashes of his house, focusing on the spot where the dog tag had been stored in a jewelry box atop a bedroom dresser. Firefighters from
They were soon joined by a team led by
"It was surreal," said
They found the dog tag, two commemorative coins, a bracelet and bronze plaque, all mementos of
It was a scorched black mass, not readily identifiable as a flag, discovered as the men searched the spot where it had been stored in a triangular box atop a china hutch in the dining room.
Stephanie wept when her husband came back with the scorched and charred remembrances of her father, a hay truck driver who attended
"It feels like I have a piece of him," she said, holding the dog tag this week and wiping away a tear. "He's always with me, but (it helps) knowing that not everything was lost in the fire."
"It was a pretty moving moment," Aarsheim said, recalling the recovery mission for Jeff, a former fraternity brother at
"It meant the world to me to try to find what we were looking for," Aarsheim said, admitting he had quietly felt there was no chance of success.
Saturday, the Okrepkies, who are staying with Jeff's father, Windsor Councilman
Friday was poignant day for Stephanie and her family.
For years,
At first, she and her mother would try to leave town, "get away from everything," Stephanie said.
"It was always a tough period for her," Jeff said, recalling his wife would "cry at the drop of a hat."
Tillman's arrival leavened the date with joy. For his first birthday, Stephanie had a professional photographer take a picture of Tillman sitting next to a photo of his grandfather.
"It's still hard and so emotional, but now with Tillman we have a happier occasion," she said.
The family's flight from their neighborhood amid the firestorm was a frantic experience not unlike the escapes that thousands of others were forced to make that night.
The couple had been awakened about
A while later a neighbor confirmed that flames had bounded over
Stephanie grabbed a tank top from a bachelorette weekend and a T-shirt she made for Tillman's first birthday bearing the word "Mom" and Mickey Mouse ears. In hindsight, she said she was glad to have saved it.
Jeff stuffed a few more things into the duffle bag, and they fled as burning embers hurtled through the air and a bright orange glow shone in the rear view mirror.
"Everything else is gone," Stephanie said.
Jeff said he's amazed by acceptance of the loss of so many material possessions. "You just stop caring about things that are unimportant when they're gone," he said.
The house belonged to her uncle, so they have no rebuilding worries. Jeff, an insurance agent, and Stephanie, a legal assistant, are considering another rental home or apartment or a continued stay at his father's house.
At some point, they hope to get back to a place like
The dog tag and other mementos will be placed in a display box on the wall of their future home, with the flag in a separate protective container.
The loss of her father will never fade away, Stephanie said. Father and daughter chatted via webcam a few days before he died.
"There's not a day that goes by I don't think of my dad. I want to call him and tell him something. It still hurts. I miss him every day and I wish he was still here."
"But you find ways to move on and not dwell on the pain," she said.
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