A football signed by Phillip Fulmer is seen on Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Dr. Rodney Susong and Alan Pressley helped to replace University of Tennessee memorabilia that Angie Lowery and her family lost in a fire.Nine months later, the nightmares continue for Angie Lowery and her 18-year-old son, Ryan Moore.
How could they not? One minute last March they were sitting down to a lovely dinner of pork tenderloin, rice pilaf and fried okra in the family’s Middle Valley home, the sun brightly shining outside, a perfect early spring evening nicely wrapping up the first day of Moore’s spring break.
The next minute? In Lowery’s haunting words: “A storm came up out of nowhere. A lightning bolt struck. I thought it hit the back yard, but then I saw flames overlapping near the bay window. I yelled at Ryan to get out. In 15 minutes we lost everything. The only thing left standing was the mailbox.”
Everything. Furniture. Clothes. Electronics. Jewelry. Books. Nearly 30 years worth of collectible Hallmark Christmas ornaments. And photographs. Most of all, worst of all, the photographs, the visual history of her life and the lives of her two sons: Ryan and 21-year-old Austin, who had been taking a class for his mechanical engineering major at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga when the fire broke out.
“Ryan and I do lawn-care work,” Austin recalled. “When I got home he was so proud that he’d been able to save my $600 backpack blower from the garage on his way out of the house. He thought I’d bust his (behind) if he didn’t save it.