Bartlesville Woman Seeks Help To Create Memorial For Fire Victims

A Bartlesville woman who lost her son in a fire is working to get support for a memorial to honor him and four others who were also killed.

Casey Johnson said her goal is to make a make-shift memorial into a more permanent one to remember those who died in that fire about four years ago.

Every year Johnson comes back to the place where her son and four others were killed.

"We come every once and a while, just to kind of remember," Johnson said. "It hurts when you lose a parent, or you lose anybody, but losing a kid — it is really, really hard," Johnson said.

Although the cause of the fire is still unknown and the house has been torn down, Johnson comes to find peace at the make-shift memorial.

She said she's working toward having a permanent place for families and friends to visit and remember their loved ones.

"We want a gazebo with five sides. Each side kind of represents the five people that passed away. Somewhere where we can sit and come together," Johnson said.

Johnson said she hopes having the gazebo will also help bring something positive to a tragic situation.

But putting up a memorial is costly, so Johnson's dad has put up a GoFundMe page to raise money.

"It doesn't make it any easier. It's hard. It hits your heart really hard every time you walk onto this land," Johnson said.

After the fire, Johnson said even driving past the place where she lost her son was one of the hardest things to do.

"I've lost other people, but it's hard to lose your child. You know, they're not supposed to go first," Johnson said.

And although years later she's able to step out onto the property where the house used to stand, she's hoping for some help so those five lives are not forgotten.

"It would be a little bit more heart settling and it would give us some positivity," Johnson said.

If you'd like to donate, visit the family's GoFundMe page.