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Firefighters present more than $40,000 to Chattanooga kids orphaned by house fire

Jack Thompson (left), president of the Chattanooga Firefighters Association, shakes Gary Patterson's hand after handing him a check for $5,900. The check was just part of the money raised by the community to support their three grandchildren. Photo by Bruce Garner. Jack Thompson (left), president of the Chattanooga Firefighters Association, shakes Gary Patterson's hand after handing him a check for $5,900. The check was just part of the money raised by the community to support their three grandchildren. Photo by Bruce Garner.

By Shelly Bradbury January 20, 2015 1 min read

Almost two months after a fire raged through the Lockhart family home and killed the parents of three elementary aged children, Chattanooga firefighters today gave the children and their grandparents $41,900 in donated funds.

The community rallied behind the Lockhart kids after the fire struck their house on Houser Street the day before Thanksgiving in 2014.

The kids escaped the blaze but both their parents, Randall and Candy Lockhart, died. The house was completely destroyed and the kids have now moved in with their grandparents, Gary and Susan Patterson, who plan to raise them.

Jack Thompson, president of the Chattanooga Firefighters Association, gave Gary Patterson a check for $5,900 today, and announced that the rest of the money will be put into educational trusts for each of the children.

“I just want to thank everybody,” Gary Patterson said. “Thanking to me is not enough, but that’s all I can say.”

Read tomorrow’s Times Free Press for complete details on this story.

News report from the time: