A few months ago Tami Willadsen’s father, Joe Eifrid, posted a photo on gofundme, something he’d found in what remained of Tami’s belongings. It’s an image of a framed picture displaying Jack Willadsen, Tami’s son, as a baby. Taped to the frame is a strip of a fortune-cookie message that reads, “Your home is a pleasant place from which you draw happiness.”
On a misty, drearily overcast afternoon about 100 people gathered Sunday around the clubhouse at Lake Avondale in Avondale Estates, and every one of them had the Willadsen family home on their mind. It once stood about a football field away, beyond the lake, in what’s now a silent, cleared-out patch of lawn.
Like a bucolic Civil-War battlefield, there is absolutely no hint to the massive destruction that took place here.
One year ago on April 12, around 11 p.m. Tami’s dream home suddenly caught fire and within hours all 5,624 square feet were charred ruins. Tami, 43, who was director of philanthropy for the Nature Conservancy, died in the blaze along with her 10-year-old daughter Jess, a student at the nearby Museum School.
Her husband Dave suffered relatively minor injuries, but son Jack, 5, had severe burns and was in the hospital for months.
“I still can’t wrap my brain around this,” said Patti Ghezzi, who worked with Tami on The Museum School Board —Tami headed up a fund-raising effort that netted $2 million for renovating the school’s building.
“It was a Saturday night,” Ghezzi said. “They were having a get-together with friends, just like we all have, just like my husband and I are having tonight. Now all that’s left it is this big, gaping hole.”
DeKalb fire investigators were never able to determine the cause. Photos by firefighters show enormous, almost unreal bursts of flame piercing the night, ultimately consuming everything except the framework of one blackened wall.
Dan Whisenhunt, who runs the local blog Decaturish, later wrote an in-depth piece on the fire after reading through the entire case file. The report found that cedar siding and the house’s 18 windows provided plenty of fuel and ventilation for the fire, and partly explains why it burned so fast and so thoroughly. But what caused the conflagration may forever remain unknown.
“I come down here to run around the lake several times a week,” said Brigitte O’ Connor, a neighbor who knew Tami through the school. “I come around the corner and always look up at where the house stood. I have to do this. I don’t know if it’s for closure, or for some kind of connection. I guess we all grieve in different ways.”
In the past year there have been numerous fund raisers for the family. A gofundme account has raised to date $104,770. Joe Eifrid’s message on gofundme notes that Jack’s hospital bill is $1.2 million, most covered by insurance, but there are also additional bills. Jack will likely need skin grafts until he’s done growing, and physical therapy for the rest of his life.
There were no family members present Sunday. The AJC attempted reaching out to a Willadsen spokesman last week and didn’t get a response.
But Angela Fisher, a friend of the family says that so far Jack has healed much faster than originally expected, and that he’s been attending kindergarten (outside Avondale Estates) all year.
“He’ll be battling his injuries for a long time,” Fisher said. “We saw him at a birthday party back in August and he was acting like a normal kid even then, playing on the slip and slide and all that.”
In the last several months the Willadsen property was put up for sale. On Sunday the sign indicated it was under contract, while directly beneath it on the ground lay two freshly picked roses.
“I’m excited about that,” said Kris Hammett, another friend of Tami’s. “I’m excited that somebody is getting ready to bring life back into that place.”
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