Family searches for memories after devastating fire

By Victoria Anderson

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    STILLWATER, Oklahoma (KOCO) — A Stillwater family is searching for cherished items after a fire destroyed their home on Friday.

“My childhood bedroom,” Isabella Bolene said. “There used to be a window right there and I would sneak out and I would go run around to the end of the hill where my friends would park … I wasn’t very good at it!”

Isabella Bolene is now stepping over twenty-four years of memories in her childhood home in Stillwater.

“Christmases, their birthdays, pool parties – we had the girls swimming in the pool,” Sherry Bolene said.

Sherry and Joe Bolene were headed home from a hospital in Tulsa when they first saw the dark red sky.

“I came up and I heard the Jones’ wind chimes – and I was so hopeful because if the wind chimes were up everything was okay,” Sherry Bolene said.

“Then I started over to our house – and I still had hope – I still had hope – it’s gone,” she added.

By the time the family made it back, it was too late.

“My grandfather’s pocket watch,” Joe Bolene said.

“I’m hoping to find my wedding ring,” Sherry Bolene said.

“I was supposed to get it whenever I got engaged one day – and we’re hoping it’s here,” Isabella Bolene said.

That brings them to today.

Shovel in hand, the Bolene family is searching for the irreplaceable.

“What do you think this is?” Joe Bolene asked.

The Bolene family is not alone in this task, as many in the community face similar challenges.

The Bolenes say they are getting through it with support from their neighbors next door and in the trees.

“I used to come out and feed the birds and water every day,” Sherry Bolene said. “It’s nice to see that things go on,” she added.

A GoFundMe has been created for the family.

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