When I was accepted to Pfeiffer University, people there said they were a
family, that everyone cared about everyone else and you received special
attention.
The Pfeiffer community proved that to Annette and
John Wheeler.
Tragedy struck Aug. 13, a Sunday, when the home
the family rented in Badin burned to the ground.
Annette is a junior at Pfeiffer, majoring in
political science with a minor in business administration. She has been at
Pfeiffer for several years, first working at the school’s Pizza Hut and then
gaining the confidence to enroll as a non-traditional student in the academic
program.
John works with SodexHo Marriott, the company
that contracts with the school for maintenance. Their daughters, Shameka, 16,
Shawna, 14, and Shana, 12, are well known to Pfeiffer faculty and students.
Still, the Wheelers never expected the school
family to adopt them.
When the accidental fire left them homeless, the
Pfeiffer family knew what to do. First, Dr. Charles Ambrose, Pfeiffer’s
president, agreed to let the Wheelers live in an apartment on campus designated
for married students and staff.
“They gave us a roof over our head. We are
going to stay here until we find something, hopefully within the next couple
weeks,” Annette said.
The Stanly County chapter of the American Red
Cross will pay for the deposits at their new home if they find one before Sept.
14. Annette said that could be a challenge.
But the donations have started coming in, just in
case the family doesn’t find a home before the deadline and has to make the
deposit itself. Pfeiffer faculty and students have contributed more than $1,500.
Donna Tewmey, who works in the financial aid
office, is collecting money for the family. She said a number of professors have
come to her office and donated as much as $300 without a second thought.
Softball/basketball coach Angie Morton let the
Wheelers use her van.
“We have full use of her vehicle, and she even
filled the tank for us,” Annette said. “As a matter of fact, she just came
over today (Friday) and gave us a bed.”
The story of the family’s survival of the fire
is just as amazing as the story of Pfeiffer’s outreach.
Annette said she fell asleep sometime after 11:30
p.m. on that Sunday night. During a deep sleep, a man’s voice woke her up
saying, “Get up and turn the light off in the kitchen.”
“I sat up and looked at John. He was sound
asleep so I laid back down. Before my head hit the pillow, he said ‘I told you
there was a light on in the kitchen; turn it off right now.’ When I heard
‘right now,’ I got up out of bed and I went to the kitchen.”
That is when Annette saw the fire engulfing the
area around her dryer.
“It was God or a guardian angel,” she said of
the voice she heard.
She doesn’t think family members would have
gotten up that night, because earlier that day, while painting, they had taken
down the smoke detector.
Fire officials told the family the clothes dryer
started the fire. Annette said the dryer wasn’t even on that evening.
The family lost its cat, Midnight, and her three
kittens, who were so young they had no name.
Six family Bibles survived the fire. Most had a
charred cover, but not a single page was singed, she said.
While painting the living room earlier that
Sunday afternoon, Annette had put a family heirloom Bible on top of some
pictures she had to take off the walls. Everything in the living room, including
the television, burned beyond recognition, except that Bible and the stack of
pictures it had protected.
Boxes with the smoke-damaged pictures are stacked
up outside their apartment at Pfeiffer. Inside, the belongings that could be
salvaged intermingle with the new items donated or bought for the family.
Annette said the fire marked the “worst day of
our lives.”
“And every day since then,” she added, “has
been the most blessed.”
The Red Cross assisted the family immediately
after the fire, and East Albemarle Baptist Church “gave us a very generous
donation,” she said.
The most inspirational gift, Annette said, came
from Billy Huddleston’s parents, who gave them a dining room table and $100 in
cash. Billy is the sixth-grade Oakboro boy who was murdered earlier this month.
“In all of their grief, all of their loss, the
greatest loss of all, and they take time to help us out. It is just amazing,”
Annette said. “God is just amazing, and wonderful.”
Jennifer