People set up candles around the World's Largest at the Egg Park in downtown Winlock in preparation for a candle light vigil on Thursday night. Hundreds of community members gathered at the park to pay respects to the three people who died in a house fire Thursday morning.
People gather at the Egg Park in downtown Winlock for a candle light vigil on Thursday night. Hundreds of people came to the park to pay respects to the three people who died in a house fire Thursday morning.
Bobbi Henry, of Winlock, sets up candles at the Egg Park in downtown Winlock in preparation for a candle light vigil on Thursday night. Hundreds of community members gathered at the park to pay respects to the three people who died in a house fire Thursday morning.
Bobbi Henry, of Winlock, sets up candles at the Egg Park in downtown Winlock in preparation for a candle light vigil on Thursday night. Hundreds of community members gathered at the park to pay respects to the three people who died in a house fire Thursday morning.
A train passes behind Bobbi Henry, of Winlock, after she takes a break from setting up candles at the Egg Park in downtown Winlock in preparation for a candle light vigil on Thursday night. Hundreds of community members gathered at the park to pay respects to the three people who died in a house fire Thursday morning.
People gather at the Egg Park in downtown Winlock for a candlelight vigil on Thursday night. Hundreds of people came to the park to pay respects to the three people who died in a house fire Thursday morning.
Winlock resident Deb Mizner, left, holds Kiya Peppers, 10, center-left, as hundreds of people gathered at the Egg Park for a candle light vigil in Winlock on Thursday night.
People gather at the Egg Park in downtown Winlock for a candle light vigil on Thursday night. Hundreds of people came to the park to pay respects to the three people who died in a house fire Thursday morning.
Richard Anderson, of Winlock, holds up a candle during a candle light vigil on Thursday night at the Winlock Egg Park. Hundreds of people came to the park to pay respects to the three people who died in a house fire Thursday morning.
Amelia Howsden, 20, of Winlock, holds up a candle during a candle light vigil on Thursday night at the Winlock Egg Park. Hundreds of people came to the park to pay respects to the three people who died in a house fire Thursday morning.
Amelia Howsden, 20, of Winlock, along with the hundreds of people who participated in a candle light vigil hold up candles on Thursday night at the Winlock Egg Park.
A woman lights candles at the Egg Park in Winlock on Thursday night after a candle light vigil was held in the memory of the three people who died in a house fire earlier in the day.
Hundreds of people gather at the Egg Park in downtown Winlock for a candle light vigil on Thursday night. Hundreds of people came to the park to pay respects to the three people who died in a house fire Thursday morning.
People set up candles around the World's Largest at the Egg Park in downtown Winlock in preparation for a candle light vigil on Thursday night. Hundreds of community members gathered at the park to pay respects to the three people who died in a house fire Thursday morning.
Winlock resident Deb Mizner, left, holds Kiya Peppers, 10, center-left, as hundreds of people gathered at the Egg Park for a candle light vigil in Winlock on Thursday night.
A somber group of citizens from Winlock and surrounding communities gathered under the town’s iconic egg Thursday night.
Some held lit candle sticks while others carried paper cups illuminated by small candles.
All were there to show their support for a man and two boys who lost three family members — a woman and two girls — in a fire that destroyed their home early Thursday morning on First Street in Winlock.
The group of about 100 began the vigil with their heads bowed together in prayer for the family, the lives lost, first responders and the community.
Throughout the vigil, parents, children and citizens placed candles and stuffed animals on the circular brick wall surrounding a flower garden under the Egg. In the middle of the vigil, a group began singing “Amazing Grace,” and others joined in. While not everyone knew the words to the verses, many sang out on the well-known chorus.
Connie Sneed, a friend of the woman who lost her life in the fire, told The Chronicle she went to the home at about 4:30 a.m., and learned that her friend was likely lost to the fire but that the man and boys escaped.
She said her “spunky” friend had wanted to revitalize Winlock.
The names of the victims have not been released by the coroner’s office.
“She was so smart and the way she presented things — she’d write things and she wanted to be so community active,” Sneed said.
Sneed said they met on the community’s Facebook page and got to know one another because they both wanted to be active in Winlock. The family moved to Winlock about a year and a half ago, she said.
“We just love our little town,” Sneed said. “And we hate to see it like this, so that was a big passion with her.”
Sneed said they always talked about bringing the community together. Sneed wrote on her friend’s Facebook page earlier in the day.
“Girlfriend, you just did it tonight,” Sneed said she wrote. “You brought our community together.”
While Sneed said she wished the gathering could have been under different circumstances, her friend would have been proud.
The vigil started as a suggestion on Winlock’s community Facebook page.
“This is why we live in an amazing community,” Brandon Patching said about the support Winlock displayed.
It’s why he moved back to Winlock about a dozen years ago, and why, he said, he will never leave.
Lewis County Commissioner Edna Fund told The Chronicle she was shocked by the tragedy.
“It’s just hard to understand why these things happen,” she said. “I know they’re supposed to make us stronger, but sometimes you wonder.”
Her husband, Ed Fund, said the spirits of the three lost to the fire are in a better place. He said he was proud of the community of Winlock coming together and, during the vigil, called for the community to raise their candles in unity.
Amelia Howsden, 20, of Winlock, said while the tragedy hurts the community, they are strong, and she asked her fellow citizens to love their kids everyday.
“They are the future. They are the light,” Howsden said to the crowd at the vigil. “The children that were taken away today, they were supposed to be the light, but the light was taken away.”
A neighbor to the family whose home burned was at the vigil with his wife and loved ones. Mark Spalding, 39, and his family ran out of their home when they heard explosions and saw their neighbor’s home on fire and tried to help. The fire was too intense when they reached the house.
“Sometimes we don’t realize what we’ve got until it’s gone,” Spalding said. “And I really feel for that family.”
Winlock Miller Elementary School Principal Boyd Calder addressed the those gathered and told them he has been in contact with the boys’ grandmother and let her know the community offers its support.
“The most important thing we can do is say a prayer … and remember them in your thoughts,” he said.
