Patty and Joe have lived at 4059 Latona for 53 years, but are spending this holiday in Lynnwood as they sort through recovering from the Halloween fire. Here’s a photo from their house in a happier holiday season:
Patty and Joe wanted to offer this message to community in appreciation for Bette’s caroling fundraiser and to let the community know where their recovery is at:
For the last few weeks the cleaning company and I have been going through the house room by room to remove the items, some can be saved and cleaned, others can be cleaned but the smoke smell can never be removed so those items can’t be saved.
They have hauled 4 to 5 truckloads of debris etc. to the dump and 4 to 5 truckloads of saved items to a warehouse. My “stuff” is being stored in a special warehouse because the smoke smell will contaminate other customers’ items if stored together.
I still have to go to the warehouse and go through the items there because we didn’t have the time to make the save or don’t save decision at the house for each item.
We worked in the dark using headlamps and flashlights. It seems that City Light needs approval on the grounding for temporary lighting for the contractor and for some reason they never received that approval, therefore we worked in the dark. There was some sort of miscommunication somewhere which I am trying to get resolved now.
The firemen did a great job putting out the fire, however during that process they strewed items from room to room and floor to floor. Items that were in bedrooms initially were found in the office area and vice versa. I am not complaining, just learning about the process they have to go through to ensure all of the sparks are out.
I think all of my credit cards are now replaced and the only thing left to replace is my health card for which I have heard nothing back from United Healthcare. I have no idea why it is so difficult for them to respond.
One wonderful discovery was the storage cabinet which held 57 years of pictures with Santa. The first picture was taken in 1957 of my first born son, Michael, who was 6 months old at the time. Every year since then we have had pictures taken with Santa, and over the years the pictures included boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives and just friends. What a marvelous find!!! The crew had to saw the melted storage cabinet into pieces and break them apart, but the pictures are intact!! If you need additional storage space, then make sure to get a storage shed to help you with seasonal storage.
The only year missing is 2014, it was displayed in the living room at the time of the fire. I am attempting to see if I can get duplicates made.
Lastly in this update is the wonderfulness of Bette Jingling, and her surprise caroling, fundraising event that took place last night. We are just overwhelmed by the kindness, the beautiful singing, and the fundraising efforts of our neighbors and friends on our behalf. This is a strenuous time on the pocketbook for everyone and yet you all gave!! How wonderful and you are all very blessed and have joined the angels here on earth.
Thank you, thank you, Bette, a lady named Patti, whom I met I think at the block party and each and every one of you. Thank you for your lovingness, your kindness, your time spent in this effort and especially thank you for just being there.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to one and all. May all of your days be merry and bright.
Thank you.
Patty and Joe.
If you want to help out or learn more, contact Bette at 206 633 2893.
This is so heartwarming. I’m sorry for Betty And Joe’s loss and all the work to put their lives back together. But our neighborhood is a wonderful place. Happy Holidays.
First I just want to clarify that the grieving homeowner is Patty . ( It gets confusing with several similar names as Patty, Patti and bette. )
Patty and Joe have been delighting generations in and beyond this little corner of Wallingford with spectacular displays of their generous JOY and expecting nothing but the reflected delight on the faces of all who visit…over and over again! It is truly a labor of love, a gift to a grateful community.
After the fire , many neighbors passed by my house just up the street on 42nd wondering if I knew of any they might help them. Patty’s son initially responded to a suggestion of a ‘Go Fund Me’ project that she believed that insurance would take care of everything.
Here is a bit of background as best as I understand. She and Joe have always been hardworking and proudly self-sufficient and have LIVED in and maintained their home and household for more than 50 years. They only retired this past summer at last!
As it has turned out, their hope in their insurance coverage has been startlingly bleak. As I understand from what Patty shared with me, the ‘depreciation’ of the contents of their HOME will leave them with value of far less than half of what they expected to receive for restoring their lives. This is a horrible shock for Patty and Joe.
Since I too shared the desire to help with so many, I met with Patti Jones from down the street over coffee to see if maybe she and I might do a fundraiser as a Surprise ‘Holiday Gift’ from the neighborhood. We decided on a Holiday Caroling Party to collect contributions from households along Latona and as far as time and energy would allow. because is was to be a surprise we made fliers and the two of us distributed them to homes well beyond our caroling route so as to gather as many singers could join as possible. Mr. Wallyhood inquired about sharing on this Blog but we didn’t want Patty to find out what we were up to! As it turned out, KING 5 reporter Natalie Swabey, who had done a story the day after the fire, heard about what we were doing through neighbor Annie (on 5th) and thought it would be a heartwarming follow-up story. Patti and I thought it would a really fun way to reveal the gift to Patty and Joe! I called Patty to tell her of “a heartwarming story that would be on the 11 o’clock news”.
On Wednesday, the 16th, the weather cooperated , cameras and mikes arrived at 6:30 and carolers gathered for hot spiced cider and cookies ‘under my big tree’ at 7 PM. Too busy to count myself, I understand the impromptu choir swelled to as many as 30 folks (including little ones in backpacks as well as enthusiastic and cooperative dogs!) as we made on our way down the street. What a JOY to witness such an enthusiastic response to the opportunity to ‘give back’ to Patty and Joe! And what fun we had!
Seconds after the airing of the story aired my phone rang and I’m sure the sounds of delight cold be heard from Wallingford to Patty’s temporary residence in Lynnwood! **This just happened to have occurred on the very day that the recovery crew removed the last load of contents of the burned home. It was a very, very hard day for these dear Neighbors. ** The timing was right! Patty’s response was just as I might expect of this generous NEIGHBOR…She was glad that I served hot cider for ‘all those wonderful people’; and “Oh, this is such a strain on families’ budgets!”, ” Do you have all their names and addresses so I can thank them?” (not all of them, sorry 🙁 )… Always thinking of others! What an inspiration!
We have not given the gift to Patty and Joe as contributions are still coming in! There are still some days until Christmas, (Patty and Joe’s ‘Holiday’ ). The total so far is beyond our expectations but won’t announce the total here until after we give it to them. ( Watch this space!) If you still wish to contribute you can contact me. Drums are rolling “pa-rum-pa-pa-pum” as there is an incredible total coming up!… I’m starting to feel like Jerry Lewis (remember his telethons?)!
My thanks to everyone who has helped to make this community such a wonderful place to call home!.
Happy Holidays to all!
bette jingling
I drove to the warehouse in Marysville yesterday where our house contents are stored to see if we could find the box of Christmas presents I had bought prior to the fire. We had good luck and found them. Smoky but intact.
Today we received a surprise visit from two of our softball friends and they brought with them a wonderful lady Patty Paddon and her sweet daughter, Sydney. (I hope I got the daughter’s name right).
Patty Paddon and her sister, KT, founded an organization 5 years ago named Secret Santa. Each year their Secret Santa organization finds a family in need to help out either through the year or especially at Christmas time.
This year they chose to honor Joe and me with their precious gift.
What a wonderful surprise. I know there are more deserving families that can use this gift and we are humbled by being chosen this year.
Thank you so much to all of the people who belong to, work for, and donate to this Secret Santa organization. May our Good Lord bless you and keep you always in His care.
Thank you, thank you for the special gift you have given us.
Thank you Patty Paddon and KT for the wonderful work you do each year as the Secret Santas.
May all of our friends, families and loved ones have a very merry, merry, blessed Christmas and a Happy, Happy New Year.
Patty and Joe
It is the day after Christmas and I cannot tell you what a Happy, Happy Christmas you wonderful neighbors gave to Joe and me.
Rama and Tania Arumugam Hino and their boys, Paco and Aria (and the family dogs, Idli and Cisco), and Bette and Doug Jingling brought your wonderful gifts to Joe and me at daughter Angela’s house on Christmas Day.
You should see the beautiful picture album created by Helen Fallat and all the contributors. I am still weeping with joy over it. My whole family was delighted to see the pictures of our decorated house over the years and different holidays. Pictures of neighbors, their children and dogs, some in costume, some not, the newlyweds, twenty pages of beautiful pictures. This album is amazing, I wish I knew how to share it with each of you. Helen put in an immense amount of time and thought to create such a beautiful display of pictures.
And then to top it off they delivered personal Christmas cards from Lisa and Maggie and the whole Arumugam Hino Family.
Finally to climax the whole gift giving they presented my daughter with a bouquet of flowers and a cashiers check to me and Joe of the contributions and donations you gave to us.
What fantastic angels you all are to have given us so much. I will deposit this into the replacement contents account I have set up to replace our losses. This will help replace the decorations we lost.
We cannot thank you enough. Thank you, thank you to everyone who sent pictures, donated monies, especially the little girl who gave .26 from her piggy bank, thank you to those who helped create and pay for the production of the picture album.
It is our wish that each of you had as happy a Christmas this year that you gave to Joe and me.
Thank you one and all and a Happy, Happy Blessed New Year to each one.
Patty and Joe