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Two young Goshen children lost their lives in a house fire in West Virginia on Saturday morning.
Abilene Campbell, 3, and Jayce Campbell, 2, children of Megan Clark of Goshen, were visiting their father, Hunter Campbell, in Methias, W.Va., for the weekend when the house they were staying in caught fire in the early hours of Jan. 6.
Candi Strawderman, Campbell’s fiancée, was able to escape the fire, but Campbell, Abilene and Jayce, as well as two of Strawderman’s children – Grayson Strawderman, 5, and Bucklee Campbell, 1 – were not.
When crews with the Methias Volunteer Fire Department arrived on the scene, the house was engulfed in flames, according to news reports. The West Virginia Fire Marshal’s Office said the cause of the fire will be ruled undetermined due to the severe amount of damage to the structure. They also noted that no smoke alarms were found among the debris.
Abilene was in Headstart at Fairfield Elementary School and “loved her teacher, Mrs. Esther,” Clark told The News-Gazette on Tuesday, adding that “she loved the color pink, Barbie dolls, makeup and she loved to dance.” Jayce attended daycare at the Wonderland Enrichment Center in Verona and “loved his pow-pows (toy guns) and loved riding in tractors and big trucks with his step-dad Cody [Clark]. He had a laugh that would make you laugh and the prettiest smile,” Megan Clark said.
Two GoFundMe pages have been set up to help cover funeral expenses for the family. One, for Campbell, Grayson and Bucklee, has raised more than $60,000 of its $65,000 goal as of Tuesday afternoon, while the second, set up for Abilene and Jayce, has a goal of $25,000, of which just over $16,000 has been raised. Donations are still being accepted for both fundraisers and can be made at https://www. gofundme.com/f/abilene-rose-and-jayce-william (Abilene and Jayce) and https://www. gofundme.com/f/Candihuntergraysonbucklee (Campbell, Grayson and Bucklee).
