Fire Destroys Romney Treasurer's Home

Did you see this news item?

A multimillion home fit for the pages of a home and garden magazine burned to the ground last night in a fast-moving, three-alarm fire in Beverly Farms.

The fire quickly spread throughout the 21’Ñ2-story wood-frame home with stucco exterior that is tucked away in the woods a quarter-mile from Hale Street.

Police reported no injuries in the blaze.

The home is owned by state Republican power player Darrell Crate, who recently served as treasurer of former Gov. Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.

The Crates were a partner family of SixSeeds, which is the organization (you may remember) which did Send-a-Box for us. As a tribute to their family upon this disaster, I wrote the following, called "Something's Missing."

It was a sunny afternoon, the last time we saw our home in Kentucky. We packed up the house and the kids chased each around giddily in the empty space. Our friends came over to do last-minute touch ups to the paint and afterwards we ate Chinese food on the steps of the house. It was near the airport and beside an open field -- the only barrier between us and a minimum security federal prison. While some don’t appreciate prison real estate, we took pride that we lived next to infamous people like “Squeaky” Fromme and Leona Helmsley. So, the kids slept in snug beds under planes which roared all night and the occasional prison siren which alerted us to an escape.

After all the touch ups to the bare walls, it was time to leave. The pudgy faces of my children fell, as the keys clanked on the kitchen counter and the doors locked behind us for the last time. Tears rolled down our faces as we got further and further away. About an hour down the road, our noses runny and red, Austin said in a panic, "I forgot my Hunter helmet!" He was referring to a one inch long maroon, Power Rangers helmet belonging to one of his action figures. He'd left it in a corner of the house that was all locked up and no longer ours. The object itself was of very little real significance, but -- in the moment -- that tiny plastic helmet came to symbolize all that was left behind.

While it’s true that “home is where the heart is,” material things somehow embody the notion of home -- the worn slippers, Dixie cups next to the sink, the first grade photo of the kid without his front tooth.

That’s one reason why we were grieved to hear the news last week that SixSeeds partners Darrell and Nancy Crate’s house in Beverly, Massachusetts burned to the ground. While my family intentionally left our home – and had a chance to empty it of everything except that silly helmet – the Crates drove out of their driveway without realizing it was the last time. The ravenous fire consumed their home and belongings in less than two hours.

Read the rest here.