"When my house burned I thought I was going to have to scuffle," said Rosa Ransby, 88, sitting amid the walnut-stained cabinets of her new kitchen.
"I didn’t know I had friends, but God sent me some friends."
She had friends across the street, who helped get her out of the burning house, friends in her Coweta County neighborhood, who helped replace all the toys and Christmas presents that burned, and friends in even higher places.
In the latter group was Atlanta filmmaker Tyler Perry, perhaps her biggest friend of all (and not just because he's 6-foot-5.)
After seeing a news story about the Christmas house fire, Perry contacted the fire chief, and then arranged to rebuild the house where Ms. Ransby lived with her son, Olin Walker and his seven grandchildren.
On Friday morning Perry, accompanied by members of the Coweta County Fire Department, handed over the keys to the new house.
"Did you bring Madea with you?" asked No. 3 son, Willis Walker, 64. "Madea is right here," said Perry, gesturing to Ms. Ransby, who, with her platinum wig, was a pretty good likeness for Perry's famous character. (Her grandchildren even call her "Muh.")
As the great-grandchildren rushed through the spotless house, smelling the new paint and taking off their shoes before stepping on the white carpet, some family members responded with "Hallelujahs!" and some responded with tears. (And some sought autographs from the famous Perry.)
"Now y'all quit all that crying," said Perry hugging oldest great-grand, Taylor, 18, as she covered her eyes.
Ms. Ransby was asleep in her chair around 8 a.m. on Dec. 22, when her great-granddaughter Niya, 5, told her that she saw smoke. Neighbor Bob Simerley also spotted the smoke, and rushed across the street to help the elderly woman off of her porch.
The other children were at school, and Walker had just left for work. "I couldn't believe how fast they put up the new house," Simerley said.
The new house is now the tidiest on the block. It sits in a depressed neighborhood between Newnan and Sargent, among mill houses built for employees of the Arnco Mill, which went out of business about 15 years ago.
The replacement house doesn't look just like the original. It has five bedrooms instead of two, and all new appliances.
Coweta County Fire Chief Johnny W. Teeters said: “Seeing [Ransby's] face and the kids' faces is unbelievable. It makes you realize what life is all about.” Of Perry, he said, "I know he’ll get paid back ten times later on in life for what he did here."
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