July 2, 2022

It has been about 6 weeks since the Mesquite Heat Fire of May’ 2022.  The fire consumed approximately 11,000 acres and multiple homes and structures.  Some of our family neighbors lost all of their physical possessions.   There is still plenty of clean-up work, nails to be removed, burnt trees that need to be cut down, and healing from the mental and physical effects the survivors have encountered after a horrendous natural disaster.  However, many of them, my mother included, want to be defined by their resilience, growth moving forward, and the rebuilding after such a life-changing fire.  The View and surrounding communities have been blessed by an outpouring of love from the community.  Neighbors have joined forces to take care of each other, and the new normal since the devastating fire has been for neighbors to seek ways to take care of others.  Neighbors have grown closer, and some of them have forged bonds with others in the community that they may have never had otherwise.  

One of the leaders of the rebuilding efforts in the View Community has been Kay Richards.  She is a retired teacher who is anchored by deep roots in the community.  Her family has lived out in the View area since before 1900, so she possesses a wealth of information about the community.  I recently had a chance to catch up with Ms. Kay, and she explained, “This is the worst fire that View has ever had, but it has pulled our community back together.”  She added, “Everybody has been taking care of everybody.”  One of the ways that she helped during the fire was to not only help evacuate family and friends but also their livestock.  She brought her cattle trailers to help neighbors move their cattle from the path of impending fire.  

Now, Ms. Kay is humble and will probably be embarrassed by any special attention, but I think it takes a special personality to step in during a horrific fire to organize people.  (From my personal experience, teachers seem to have a natural gifting for directing people- especially in a times of crisis).  One of her friends overheard the interview, and good-naturedly whispered, “She’s really good about bossing people around.”  Lol…..

Regardless of the teasing, her neighbors whole-heartedly agree that Ms. Kay has been a blessing to her neighbors.  She has been quick to point out the life-saving work of others.  She said, “You can’t say enough about the Sheriff Ricky Bishop, who is all the Fire Chief.  He and his deputies, volunteer fire fighters…. we are thankful for all of them.”  

Ms. Kay elaborated, ” People have been coming back to church.”  One of the central locations for the fire survivors during evacuations and since has been the View Baptist Church.  According to Ms. Kay, the View Baptist church dates back to 1910. The church has also hosted the recent View Community Service Meeting.  Neighbors have been joining together to help meet each other’s needs and support each other during such an unprecedented life event. 

Along with helping her neighbors, Mrs. Kay described one of her upcoming projects.  She will be focusing on how to rebuild several miles of fence line that were destroyed during the fire.  She explained that it will be a challenge, but that if her grandfather built it with “2 mules, traveling on a covered wagon,” she too has the grit and fortitude to accomplish this task.   Hopefully, she will keep us updated about her progress.  

As we close today, here is a special example of love shown towards the fire victims.  One way that people have reached out to the fire victims has been through gifting them with special quilts, and other mementos, similar to keepsakes that were lost in the fire.  Pictured are quilts made by Vicki Craig of Abilene.  Ms. Kay recently made a special trip to deliver one to Dr. Pearl Merritt, and her neighbors, the Casey family. 

There are so many special people in the community who have made a difference in the lives of others.  If you did not see your friend of family member mentioned, please stay tuned.  We will be making our way through multiple stories of those in the community.  Please feel free to leave me comments or pictures if there is a story you are interested to see featured in for this Blog.  

Thank you so much for joining us today!

Dr. K

Special Encouragement: 

1 Peter 3:8 (NIV)

All of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.