Randall and Candy Lockhart died from burns sustained from a fire in their Houser Street home. Their three children escaped from the fire.
Randall and Candy Lockhart died from burns sustained from a fire in their Houser Street home. Their three children escaped from the fire.As soon as the flames began to consume the house in North Chattanooga the three Lockhart children knew where to go.
While their parents were trapped, burning, the elementary age children ran outside and down a small hill to the safety of their grandparents' house.
Now, that house and their grandparents are all they have left.
Their parents, Randall and Candy, both died from extensive burns. The house where the children grew up is just a hollow, charred frame. Their toys are gone. So are all the pictures of their past.
"Everything is gone for these children," said Karen Reid, a neighbor and close family friend of the Lockharts. "But, they have their grandparents and at their home they feel safe and secure, and that is what matters now."
While most families were preparing for family and finishing their grocery shopping the morning before Thanksgiving, the Lockharts' house at 220 Houser St. caught fire. The cause is still under investigation.
Candy, 35, died later that day at Erlanger, and her husband was flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center's burn unit in critical condition. Randall, 41, died in the burn unit five days later, on Monday.
Reid has known Candy since she was 15 and the children since they were born.
"Candy's life was her children," she said. "She and Randall just loved them so much."
Reid, and her husband Danny, have been helping take care of the children since the moment the kids escaped the fire. And in the last week the local community has mobilized and donated everything the kids have needed, she said.
"The kids keep asking where different donations come from, and I keep telling them 'someone you don't even know loves you,'" said Reid.
Money, twin beds, clothes that fit perfectly, and blue sheets are just a few of the things the community has offered the Lockhart children, who are in third, fourth, and fifth grade at Red Bank Elementary.
An account was set up by the Chattanooga Fire Department Local 820 at First Tennessee Bank to help the family, and monetary donations can be made to the "Lockhart Relief Fund" at any of the bank's branch offices.
The family's church, One Accord Community Church in Red Bank, has also been accepting donations to help the family, said Pastor Ray Williams, who officiated Candy's funeral on Tuesday and will also perform Randall's later this week.
Williams said enough money was donated to cover Candy's funeral expenses, and he hopes additional money will be given to help with the cost of Randall's as well.
Community outpouring has been so widespread, Reid said through tears. She trusts the support will continue.
She pointed to three flowers in a vase on the kitchen table, as she told about the local florist who donated all of the flowers for Candy's casket. The florist allowed the children to choose the color of the flowers, and they chose red and pink roses, and blue hydrangeas.
The week has been a blur, said Reid. She and the grandparents are exhausted, but refuse to give up and continue to care for the children.
The grandparents are working to keep the kids' routine normal, and the kids say they are glad to be going back to school.
Still, she said she knows some things will never return to normal.
When the kids get afraid and start to ask questions about the future, Reid said she comforts them with her favorite Bible verse.
"I keep reciting Hebrews 13:5, 'God does not leave us or forget us,'" she said.
Reid said at the funeral Tuesday one of the daughters turned and recited the verse back to her for comfort.
Contact staff writer Kendi Anderson at kendi.anderson@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6592.