AZO-Uncwttf Farming, Saturday, May 30, 1992
Fire Takes
GAY N. BROWNLEE
Somerset Co. Correspondent
FRIEDENS (Somerset Co.)
Exactly two months after Are
destroyed their house on an icy
day in March, Gary and Nancy
Lynch look around them and see
their four, happy children
Mike, Andy, Laureen and Jessie
and their livelihood a 90
head Holstein dairy and say
that life is good. In fact, it is
wonderful!
We still have all the important
things, they say.
With the six of them living in a
large mobile home, things are
cramped, no doubt about it, but the
Lynch’s are making the best of an
unexpected situation created by
the loss of their 160-year-old farm
house.
The day it happened all the kids
but Lauren, who was ill, were in
school. Gary was out running
errands in the area. Around 9 a.m„
Nancy had checked the wood
burning stove in the basement and
everything seemed in order. Soon
she noticed a strange popping
sound coming from downstairs.
Smoke assailed her as soon as she
opened the basement door.
The fire then spread quickly in
the old dwelling. Nancy dialed
911. The call went through but
before she could give all the infor
'g
Lynch many hours of labor In the barn. Thi
Here, jrble has doled out the proper mixture of feed to
one of the registered Holstein cows in the herd of Gary and
Nancy Lynch.
House, But Lynch Family Still Has Important Things
mation, the telephone lines
melted.
She dashed outside to the car
but had no keys. To return inside
for them would have spelled dis
aster for her. Flames were licking
out the basement windows. Fortu
nately, another vehicle nearby had
keys in it. Lauren was outside in
her bare feet with an ice storm in
progress.
Until the fire department,
arrived, neighbors tried futilely to
withstand the blaze with fire
extinguishers.
Meanwhile, Gary noticed that
firetrucks were leaving the fire
house. He recalls thinking how
awful it was that there was a fire to
battle on such an ugly day. As he
drove toward home, he knew from
the location of the smoke he saw
that the trouble must be at his own
farm.
“I thought, T hope it’s the
bam,”’ he said. “I knew Nancy
and Lauren were home.”
Although he was driving a four
wheel drive, Gary says he couldn’t
make any headway to get home
faster. ‘That’s probably the sick
est I’ve ever been in my life,” he
said.
Five fire companies tried
unsuccessfully to save the struc
ture. The Lynch’s lost all their
possessions except what they were
iry _ -.icy
call It Herbie.
Standing In front of their temporary housing, a mobile home, is the Lynch family:
Gary, Lauren, Jessie, Andy, Mike, and Nancy.
wearing at the time. Even the lines
to the water pump went, along
with the pump itself. There was no
water for the cows.
Outrageous words are some
times spoken at just such a
moment and Nancy says the
ludicrous statement she made
while the house was burning was,
“Well, the mending’s done.” She
said, “They (bystanders) looked at
me like I was nuts.” It seems that
the Lynch mending chores never
topped her list of favorite things to
do.
“Before the day was over,” said
Gary, “we were swamped with
food, clothing and cash. The
response was overwhelming.”
“It’s like you look at it and it’s
not yours and then it is,” said Nan
cy. “You phase in and out.”
By the following morning, a
radio announcement had to be
broadcast to stop item donations.
In fact, after they sorted through
the mountains of donations'and
kept all they could use, Gary said
six pickup-truck loads of good
clothing had to be hauled away.
Among the recipients of the
excess donations were the Salva
tion Army and World’s Attic in
Somerset, which is a self-help and
thrift store.
Even their Church of the Bre
thren pastor who has worked with
disasters testified he had never
seen such a response.
“We were lucky we were on
Farm Credit’s bookkeeping sys
tem,” said Gary.
Just days prior to the loss, Gary
and Nancy officially received the
top DHIA dairy herd production
(Turn to Pago A 25)
On the living room couch and tossing a tennis ball Is
Rebecca Cline, Gainesville, Fla., aunt to Jessie, center and
Lauren Lynch, right.