Flames Consume Lone Grove Home

By Gan Matthews, NEWS 9

LONE GROVE, Oklahoma -- This month's deadly tornado spared a family's house, but flames didn't. But the family's story doesn't have a sad ending.

A Lone Grove woman's good deeds have come back to help her.

When she's not teaching English, Deeanne Brown is teaching by example.

"I just tried to be there to listen and to be a shoulder to cry on," Brown said.

Two weeks ago she was distributing clothes and food to Lone Grove tornado victims--and wondering why her own home had been spared.

"We knew several people who had lost their homes," Brown said. "My husband actually knew two of the victims who had been killed, and so we all felt so grateful that we had a roof over our heads and we had all the people that we loved. And, you know, then things happen."

Things do happen. Last week Brown and her family lot their home too--not to a tornado, to a fire.

Suddenly, she, her husband and their three kids had lost just about everything.

"It's just overwhelming," Deeanne's husband Randal Brown said. "I just didn't know what to thing anymore about it, you know? I've never liked the month of February anyways.

The Browns have moved in with Deeanne's mom and dad, who are helping with the cleanup.

"Everything in the house is a total loss," Deeanne's father Bill Rose said. "We're trying to salvage some clothes, but I don't know if we'll get them clean."

Now the Brown's church is providing them with support. And Wilson High School, where Deeanne teaches, has fund raisers planned for the family.

"It's overwhelming, it really is," Deeanne said.

"We're very grateful for anybody and everybody that helps us," Randal said.

Deeann's neighbors know she's a teacher who teaches by example.

If you'd like to contribute clothes or household goods to the Brown family, call 580-504-1513.