Nearly two months to the date after the wildfires that killed 14 people forced Sevier County evacuations, the final victim of the fires was identified Friday as 59-year-old Pamela Johnson, according to a news release from the county.
The one-sentence release identified Johnson, a grandmother who lived at Travelers Motel and worked at McKinney's Market in Gatlinburg, as the 14th victim to die from the late November wildfires. By mid-afternoon, a Facebook post by Johnson's granddaughter, Karyssa Dalton, about the identification had generated dozens of messages from people expressing their love for Johnson and support for her family.
"For the past two months I have been waiting for her daily call and it never came," Dalton, 19, of Sevierville, said in a Facebook message to the News Sentinel. "Seeing my Nana whom is also my best friend 5 days a week and talking to her on the phone daily then not seeing (or) hearing from her hurts more than anyone can imagine! It's hard for everyone to lose someone but I have never lost someone so close to me before."
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