BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — With each new beginning, Della and Keith Gibson move further away from their old life – the pair just moved into their prefabricated home a week ago – their second home on their Old Town Superior property. Their first home was lost in the Marshall Fire.
“What are you doing?” Keith asked his wife.
“I’m just putting these snacks up here,” said Della, as she sorted food in her new cabinets.
Keith was at home and had minutes to gather their two dogs and get out.
“You couldn’t see to get on the road,” he said. “You just had to take a chance and leave, it was bad.”
Della was worried, and it took hours before she learned that Keith was okay because he doesn’t use a cell phone, he never has.
“It burned down, it burned down fast,” said Della.
“I don’t have one, I don’t want one,” said Keith.
The couple liked the old ways, but the Marshall Fire forced them to get used to something different, something new.
“At 82, you don’t expect to start all over,” said Keith.
They lived in an apartment in Lafayette for a year and a half.
“First time we ever had to live in an apartment,” laughed Keith.
“He doesn’t like it,” replied Della.
When the cause of the fire was announced on Thursday morning, they watched.
But this time, the new information won’t change their world.
“And there’s no criminal intent, act of god,” said Keith about the fact that officials said they will not file criminal charges against Xcel Energy or the property owners where there was a brush fire a week earlier.
“So you live with it, it happened,” said Della. “And now we pick up the pieces which we are doing with the help of a lot of people. I’m not going to dwell on it ‘cause it’s enough stress trying to get everything back together.”
As they go on, they’re looking at the good.
“Nicest kitchen I’ve ever had,” said Della.
In fact, she said it’s the nicest house she’s ever had. She loves all the cabinet space. Her old house only had four cabinets.
This new start is the one that feels like home again.
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