Published: April 30, 2008 01:05 pm            

Up in Smoke

George and Anne Bourgeois lived the American dream.

The Bourgeoises bore the fruit of long careers — he at Fedders and she at St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital — by moving into their new home days after their marriage on Sept. 28, 1957.

The ranch-style home at 810 N. Cleveland was one of the first in their subdivision. It was there the Bourgeoises raised their three children and settled in to enjoy a happy retirement.

That all changed April 17, when fire destroyed the couple’s finished basement. Smoke from the fire made the rest of the house inhabitable for at least several months.

So, for the first time in their married lives the Bourgeoises had to depend on others. They have been staying with daughter Lisa Schafer and her family while their home is being made livable.

Mrs. Bourgeois said the couple escaped death only because of a carbon monoxide detector in their bedroom.

“The firemen said we probably only had two minutes to get out,” she said. “Smoke was rolling down the hallway.”

Because of all the smoke, there wasn’t time to get anything out of the home.

“I grabbed my purse, keys and shoes,” Mrs. Bourgeois said.

The fire, which started in a VCR atop a television set in the basement, was limited to that room.

“Upstairs was all smoke damage,” Mrs. Bourgeois said.

Sadly, 50 years of memories were destroyed.

“I usually kept my pictures upstairs, but I had been going through them in the basement,” Mrs. Bourgeois said. “I would have liked to get those out.”

As for Mr. Bourgeois, he would like to get his gun collection back after they are thoroughly cleaned.

Even though fire was limited to the basement, the Bourgeoises lost many items because of upstairs smoke damage, including beds, bed linens, a brand new dishwasher and nearly new microwave oven. There was structural damage as well.

“All the floors upstairs are buckled,” Mrs. Bourgeois said.

“In the basement, you can see ceiling tiles, floor joists and I-beams,” her husband added.

Mrs. Bourgeois said the hardest thing about the fire and its aftermath is the lack of access to her belongings.

“They are either getting cleaned or thrown in the Dumpster,” she said. “The hardest things I had to see being thrown away were hundreds of Christmas ornaments I had made over the years.”

Mrs. Bourgeois said the couple will try to be back in their home by daughter Lisa’s birthday July 18. She can’t say enough about the hospitality shown by Lisa, husband, Jon, and son, Dawson, but she worries she and her husband are encroaching.

“There’s really nothing hard about being here, but the kids don’t have as much privacy,” she said. “Our kids are good to us.”

Bill Grimes can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 131 or bill.grimes@effinghamdailynews.com.