STEWARTSVILLE (WSLS 10) - A Stewartsville family deals with two losses in three days, including the death of a loved one and the loss of a home - which burned down while they attended visitation at the funeral home.
Carlos Caldwell was watching television Sunday when a neighbor banged on his door.
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"She came beating inside my house. I go out and said what's the matter and she said look. I come out here and the flames were jumping on top. They were just on top of them trees there," he said. "I came out of my house. There was no hope."
Another neighbor's home on Tracker's Lane was on fire. No one was at the home while it burned.
The homeowner, Linda Anderson, was at a funeral home at the time. Her husband of 50-years, Lewis "Doug" Anderson, died three days earlier.
Linda was receiving friends when she got the news. Caldwell called the funeral home to alert her son about what was happening at home. Caldwell said he didn't want Linda to return home to see the flames.
"My son had been to the house at six o'clock and left and came back to the funeral home and he said everything was fine at the house. There was nothing wrong," Anderson explained Monday.
At 7:22 p.m., a neighbor was calling 911.
"I just I didn't know what to think. I'm just sort of numb," Anderson.
It was news she had dealt with before. Anderson said she and her husband lost their home in the same location after an electrical fire in 1972. The Andersons rebuilt, but Linda said it wasn't easy.
"That was rough, but this is even rougher," Anderson said.
Linda Anderson said Doug had been sick for 15 years and bed-ridden nearly four. She rarely left his side and - only leaving to cook dinner. She even slept in a chair by his bed.
"I told him I would never send him to a nursing home. And I didn't. I kept him at home where he wanted to be," Anderson said. "He was just a wonderful man."
She kept him in the house they shared, the home where they celebrated their anniversary in June, until the day he died. Now, surrounded by family, following Doug's funeral Monday, Linda will figure out how to rebuild, only this time without her husband.
One of Linda's niece's set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to help her restore some of what she lost.
The Bedford County Department of Fire & Rescue reports the home and a large shed were a total loss.
Linda's cat, as well as a dog belonging to a family member staying with her for the funeral, both died in the fire.
The cause has not yet been determined.