Community rallies around family

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Terry Cryts looks over the house she was renting, which burned Sunday in Prospect. The community has rallied around the Cryts family, providing housing, furniture and other supplies.Jim Craven

October 28, 2009

By Anita Burke

Mail Tribune

Fire destroyed the family home of Terry Cryts, a Prospect resident known for helping plan community events, but it didn't consume her giving spirit.

Even as friends and neighbors gathered donations and organized a benefit for her, she already was planning to replace pumpkins she bought for a community Halloween celebration and a banner she had created to show the town's support for troops.

The Sunday afternoon fire engulfed the rented home at 17 First St. shared by Terry, her husband, John, the youngest two of theirseven children, Terry's father, Alan Harris, and John's father, John Cryts.

The family's barking dogs alerted Harris and the elder John Cryts — the only two home at the time — that something was amiss at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday. When Harris went to see what the dogs — a Lab-mix, a pit bull cross and a Chihuahua — were barking about, he was met with smoke and heat.

The two men and the dogs escaped, with John Cryts calling 9-1-1 as they fled the rapidly growing fire. Extreme heat shattered windows around them, Terry Cryts said.

Just moments earlier, Cryts' teenage daughter, Jessica, had left the bedroom where fire investigators believe the fire started, taking several dresses she was considering for an upcoming homecoming dance to a friend's house to try on and share opinions about, Terry Cryts said.

Cryts was at the school, helping clean floors in the kitchen, when she saw the fire truck barrel by. She said she could hardly believe it when her cleaning companion said the fire truck was going to her house.

Firefighters from Prospect Rural Fire Department and Jackson County Fire District No. 4 battled the blaze for hours.

As the flames dwindled, two of Cryts' sons returned home. Robbie Cryts is home on leave from National Guard duty in Iraq and he had taken his youngest brother, Mickey, 14, to visit family out of town.

"At least he had his basketball shoes with him and a bag of stuff for the weekend," Terry Cryts said of Mickey, who was suddenly the only family member with any practical possessions.

The Crytses didn't have renter's insurance, but did have a small town ready to rally around them, said Liz Steward, a family friend who also is active in the community, working with Terry Cryts to plan events such as the parade at the Prospect Jamboree and Timber Carnival and upcoming Halloween festivities.

Friends and neighbors sprang into action to see the whole family was taken care of.

Mickey and Jessica were taken in by friends so they could stay close to school. Union Creek Resort, where Terry Cryts works, offered the rest of the family a place to stay. They quickly found another home to rent and hope to move in later this week.

"A lot of people are donating furniture and stuff," Cryts said, noting that friends had taken her teenage daughter shopping so she could return to school.

"When something like this happens, the community just pulls together," Steward said.

Cryts said she had kept pumpkins and other decorations at her home in anticipation of a "trunk or treat" gathering where kids can collect candy at the school parking lot on Halloween instead of going door to door, then take a hayride to a haunted house at the community center.

"I'll have to get more," she said.

Cryts also had created a troop support banner that was displayed downtown and signed by residents. She planned to send it to her son's unit in Iraq. She had collected about $160 for care packages for the soldiers, and before she had met with the Red Cross to attend her own needs, she was already thinking about how to replace that money and send the packages.

She said the support and kindness shown to her and her family since the fire has been "overwhelming." She said many have come forward and mentioned some project she has done for others.

"It's nice to see that the work I do has been noticed," she said.

The townspeople are happy to take care of one of their own, especially one who has done so much, Steward and Prospect Rural Fire Department Assistant Chief Greg Schaffer said.

"She's very involved and now they've lost everything," Schaffer said.

All proceeds from the weekly bingo game at the Prospect Community Center on Nov. 12 will go to the Cryts family, Steward said, noting that other events might be planned later.

Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4485, or e-mail aburke@mailtribune.com.

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