In the early evening of Feb. 19, a powerful fire destroyed the home of Scott and Teri Sessamen of Vail.
Added to this devastation is the fact that Scott is scheduled to be deployed to Fort Lee, Va. on March 10, which will end his emergency leave from the Army.
With the fire and the deployment weighing heavy on the Sessamen family, Scott and Teri have three children ages eight, six and a baby three-and-a-half months old, the Tyrone community has pulled together and offered support, prayers and donations.
“Friends, family, churches, the businesses in town, and where we work, it’s just been unbelievable from everybody,” said Teri.
“I want to thank the entire community for all their prayers and help,” added Scott.
The support from the community started while the ashes from the fire were still smoldering. People started calling and stopping by to offer help. Currently, Scott and Teri are staying with Scott’s parents, Peg and George Sessamen. The American Red Cross had to notify Scott while he was away in the Army, so that he could come home to deal with the tragedy.
“When I got home, Reverend Jay (Jones) from the Bald Eagle Church was up at the house,” said Teri. “The Red Cross, I saw up at the house, and they sent the message to Scott. There were calls from people, and people from the churches were coming by. Father (Joseph) Orr called. Everyone has just been unbelievable, very supportive.”
Firefighters believe the cause of the fire was a problem with the house’s electric baseboard heat, which left the Sessamen’s homeless, but not for long.
A local family, who would like to remain anonymous, and as Father Orr from St. Matthew’s described as “a good Christian family”, has donated their mobile home to the Sessamen’s so that they will have a place to live.
The donor family will be moving into a different modular home in the next two to three weeks and are speeding up the moving process so they can give the mobile home they are currently living in to the Sessamen’s. The home will be moved into an adjoining field by Scott’s parents’ home.
“I almost dropped the phone,” said Teri when she got the call about receiving the mobile home. “It’s unbelievable. I think we’re still in shock.”
The community has helped the Sessamen’s in their time of need, and now Scott can rest easier as he prepares to return to Fort Lee, then on to Turkey.
“It made me feel really good inside,” said Scott. “It’s real good to know that between my family and the community, I mean my family is helping out so greatly and the community helping so much, it’s really settling a lot of my worries, the little things I don’t have to worry about.”
Before the fire, Scott had the necessary paper work drawn up to leave for Fort Lee, but it was all destroyed in the fire. Now, Scott is on emergency leave and is scheduled to return on March 10. He is scheduled to stay at Fort Lee for two weeks, and then he will be shipped over to Turkey.
“Yeah, they all burned up. I had to get power of attorney and a will set up,” said Scott of the paper work. “I had to get Teri and the kids set up on a tri-care military healthcare system. I had to get 27 shots.”
This has turned out to be a truly trying time for the Sessamen’s, but with the help of family, friends and the community, they are overcoming their hardships.
“Just a big thank you to everybody,” said Teri. “We really don’t know how to say that because thank you is not enough.”
“This is the only way we really can think of to say thank you to everybody because there are so many people that helped,” added Scott.
