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Her Grandma Lost Everything When House Burned Down – Teen Builds Sculpture From The Ashes
Jessica
12.29.18

The Phoenix is a creature from Greek mythology that dies a fiery death and then rises from the ashes of its predecessor.

Hundreds of homes recently burned down in the Woolsey, California fire, which began on November 8, 2018, and burned a total of 96,949 acres of land.

90-year-old Letty Bierschenks’ Bell Canyon home was among the 1,643 structures destroyed. Fortunately, she and her family all survived. (The fire killed three people and forced the evacuation of more than 295,000.)

The burn scars on the land can be seen in satellite photos – there was extensive and devastating damage.

NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center
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NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center

The weekend before the fires began, Bierschenk celebrated her birthday at her home of 28 years with 50 family members and lifelong friends. Little did she know that celebration would also double as a goodbye party.

A few weeks later, her home – the last one she had shared with her late husband – as well as all of her family’s heirlooms were gone. Antique furniture, the library her husband had built for their hundreds of her books, and artwork from her children and grandchildren all became the charred remains of a life well lived.

Letty knew she would be returning to damage, but it wasn’t until she saw her own house burning on live on television that the reality hit home.

“The camera focused in, and I said, ‘Oh, my God, that’s our house.’ I watched it go. I think my feelings were so intense and yet so far away from what I was watching. It was a very strange feeling. I didn’t cry, but I wanted to.”

When the fires died down and it was safe to return to the property, Letty’s 17-year-old granddaughter Jessica came by to help her sift through the wreckage of 90 years of tangible memories. Jessica told the LA Times:

“Most things were completely obliterated. There was really nothing left. We searched for metal and glass, and most of what we found had turned to dust. That was the hardest part. Everything that had ever been something was nothing.”

As the women worked through the rubble, Jessica came across her grandfather’s old saw, slightly warped from the fire, and got an idea to turn the tragedy into something beautiful.

With the legend of the Phoenix in mind, she set about making a piece of art from the ashes of her grandmother’s life. Her grandfather’s tools were made into wings; parts of her grandmother’s damaged sewing machine became the bird’s body, and its neck was fashioned from the remains of a beautiful grandfather clock.

LA Times
Source:
LA Times

“I really wanted to do something to not necessarily commemorate the house, but give it some meaning afterward. The legend of the phoenix is that they are born out of the ashes. I thought that would be an appropriate theme.”

It took Jessica about a week to weld the pieces together, and she gifted the final creation to her grandmother a few days before Christmas. Letty knew immediately how the bird was made and began to cry.

“Seeing her cry, I know some of her tears were sad, but I think they were mostly happy,” Jessica said. “It made me happy that I could give her something to remember.”

Letty plans to rebuild her house on Dapplegray Road, staying true to the original modern one-story construction.

Of course, there will be a unique reminder of the old home at the new entryway – a phoenix standing guard.

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