On the evening of October 19th, 2017 we lost our house and all our belongings to a house fire. In the aftermath of that tragedy, the wonderful community in which we live, came to our aid immediately. We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the community as a whole, and especially to the brave firefighters of the Nehalem Bay Fire Department, and the Tillamook County Sheriff (unfortunately, we didn’t get his name) who just happened to be driving by the house, saw the smoke and immediately came to our aid (as we were frantically trying to get a fire extinguisher to work) and led us away from the house to safety while the firefighters did what they do best. The generous response by the community was amazing, and the list of people and business owners who have helped us is too long to recount here, but you know who you are. We are currently relocated in a rental house, where we will stay while our Nehalem house is rebuilt. It will probably be at least a year, and luckily, I happen to be married to a very capable architect/designer. In closing, it’s hard to express how fortunate we consider ourselves to live in a community with such great heart. We can’t thank you enough!
With love and appreciation,
Kate and Brian Johnstone and Buck Kitty
EDITOR’S NOTE: Thank you to this wonderful community that takes care of those in need. The raffle winner was Lori Dillon. As Kate says above – thanks to all our generous donors.