By Melissa Dunson
mdunson@joplinglobe.com
Edna Smith will finally get to celebrate her birthday today — a year late.
Smith spent her 34th birthday in a Springfield burn unit after the Anderson Guest House fire on Nov. 27, 2006. She will celebrate her recovery with cake, ice cream and family and friends who helped pull her through.
Smith was a resident at the Guest House because of severe mental retardation and depression. She now lives in the Ozark Oaks care home in Joplin.
Her sister, Carolyn Lytle, and friend, Angela Collier, both of Neosho, said the last year has been full of ups and downs as they continue to deal with the fire that killed 11 and injured Smith and others.
Smith spent six months in the hospital after the fire — nearly four of those unconscious — recovering from severe burns to her face, arms, breasts, abdomen, legs and lungs.
“At first we were both very afraid that she would die,” Collier said.
“I was praying constantly,” Lytle added. “I kept saying, ‘Please God, she’s the only sister I have, I need my sister.’”
Lytle also was a former Anderson Guest House resident, but she moved out shortly before the fire. Collier also is a former staff member there who resigned before the fire.
Today, Edna still wears bandages over her hands to protect her skin and has scarring on her legs. But Lytle and Collier call Edna’s recovery remarkable.
The first time Lytle saw Edna conscious after the fire, she couldn’t stop crying. Lytle said she was just overwhelmed and still feels fortunate that her sister is alive and well.
“I thank God that she made it through,” Lytle said. “I was scared, I didn’t want to lose my sister.”
Reminder
Although Edna may not remember much about the fire, Collier said just driving by the empty lot in Anderson where the building stood makes her sick.
“I absolutely hate driving by where the Guest House used to be and seeing the ‘For Sale’ sign,” she said. “I hope Robert DuPont rots.”
Robert DuPont allegedly continued to play a central role in Joplin River of Life Ministries, which operated Anderson Guest House, despite a previous conviction for Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Federal and state laws prohibit anyone convicted of Medicaid- and Medicare-related crimes from acting as operators of licensed Medicaid homes or participating in any federal health-care program.
DuPont faces a federal criminal charge of Medicaid fraud because of his alleged role with River of Life Ministries between 2003 and 2006. And, the state is suing DuPont and the ministry in an effort to recoup about $689,000 in Medicaid payments that the ministry received since DuPont was paroled from federal prison in August 2004.
DuPont; his wife, LaVerne DuPont; Shirley Brannon, administrator of the Anderson Guest House; and River of Life Ministries are defendants in nine wrongful-death lawsuits filed on behalf of fire victims or surviving family members.
‘Every day’
For Amanda Taff, 19, taking one day at a time means living with the memory of her late husband, Glenn, who died in the fire. Taff and her husband were the caregivers on duty at the Guest House the night of the fire.
Taff suffered burns over 40 percent of her body and faced a battle of physical and emotional pain over the last year. She now lives with her mother at her home in Anderson, along with her three younger siblings.
“Every day,” she said when asked how often she thinks of Glenn.
Amanda had known Glenn for years. They married in February 2005.
Her memories of Glenn are still largely drawn from the time they spent together, she said.
Family and physical rehabilitation have occupied much of her time since the fire. While her mother is working, Taff helps run the household.
“Every once in a while (they talk back),” she acknowledges, half-jokingly. “They’re kids.”
She now travels to Joplin three times a week for her physical rehabilitation regime, which centers on the muscles in her arms and fingers. The burns she suffered should heal, she said.
“It’s too early to say,” Taff said, when asked how long it would be before she could start working again.
Taff said she would like to go to school, although she has not yet decided what career to pursue. But she did say that she plans to remain in Anderson with her family.
‘Haven’t forgotten’
Alan Schorzman, who lost his brother, Don, in the fire, said he has thought about his brother a lot in the last year. Thanksgiving was especially hard, he said, because last year Don was able to leave the Guest House and spend the holiday with family in Lamar. No one knew it would be his last.
Don is buried in Lamar, next to his father’s grave. Alan said he visits the site often and hasn’t forgotten his older brother. Alan said over the last year, both he and his wife have visited Anderson Animal Hospital across the street from the empty lot where the Guest House once stood.
Don’s joy in life was visiting Fred the cat at the animal hospital almost daily.
Alan said the animal hospital staff can’t forget the incident, even a year later, and don’t want others too, either. Alan also said he still gets the occasional card from the animal hospital telling him someone donated money in Don’s name.
“Sometimes it’s a $3 donation, or $10 or $25,” Alan said. “I thought people wouldn’t really donate, but they still do. They haven’t forgotten.”
Alan thinks eventually the pain of the fire will fade. For Alan, the pain is eased by the thought that Don died of smoke inhalation, that his sweet brother died without pain.
“I’m sure I would feel differently if he had been burned,” he said.
‘God’s love’
A year later, the Rev. Cecil Hall also still frequently thinks about the Guest House fire. Hall is the pastor of the Anderson Full Gospel Church, which some of the Guest House residents attended.
“You drive by it almost every day,” he said of the Guest House site, which now consists of a bald concrete pad. The remains of the building were later demolished and removed after the fire.
“You don’t see the people sitting under that pavilion any more,” Hall said.
Even today, Hall said he still comes across people who talk about the fire. The other day, for example, a member of his church was talking about John Walterstedt, known as John-John, who died in the fire. John-John, who had Down Syndrome, was a fixture at Full Gospel Church services.
For people in Anderson in particular, it is difficult to forget what happened, he said.
It is also difficult to remember.
“Every time you think about it, it brings up bad feelings,” he said. “You have to grieve all over again.”
But Hall also remembers what victims such as John-John had to teach others.
Their handicap might have barred them from doing some things, but they understood, perhaps better than most, what is important.
“These were simple people, but these people knew what love was,” Hall said. “That just brought me back to the simplicity of God’s love.”
The following people perished because of the Nov. 27, 2006, fire at the Anderson Guest House:
John Wallerstedt
Nathan Kimmel Fisher
Patricia Henson
Don Schorzman
Glenn Taff
Mark O'ber
Brian Rudnick
Isaiah Joyce
Amy Brown
Alta Lemons
Charles Smith
