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Blairsville, Ga.
Life can be difficult enough, but Duane and Elizabeth Bowers have faced more than their fair share of challenges.
Duane spent 12 years in the U.S. Air Force before being honorably released with a medical discharge in 1986. The couple, married since 1983, enjoyed cooking for five or six churches every week. In 2015, they were busy teaching cooking classes to foreign students.
Also in 2015, Liz suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage, also known as a stroke, that left her unable to even boil water. She went to bed on Sept. 15, and the next day began making noise and odd movements. She was admitted to the hospital where she remained until after Thanksgiving of the same year.
She ended up with short-term memory issues along with difficulties in reading and math.
It was their faith that helped get them through the difficulties. They would again need to rely on their faith to get them through yet another tragedy.
Home destroyed by fire
On April 1, 2023, while living in Hayesville, their home was destroyed by a raging fire. They had only lived in the house for about 11 months before the flames would take away everything they cherished.
Duane was getting ready to grill their dinner when a neighbor knocked on their door letting him know that the end of their house was on fire. By the time he got back outside, a portion of the house was in flames. His neighbors were supposed to be out of town but were delayed in leaving.
The neighbor told Duane that the fire appeared to have started underneath the porch in a corner. With very little time to save anything, they managed to toss the cats into a box and get the dogs; by that time, most of the house was already engulfed in flames.
Duane believes the previous owners had put oil on the cedar planks of the outside wall, which he thinks helped fuel the flames.
The home and all of its belongings were destroyed, and their truck was melted. They moved temporarily into a basement apartment owned by a friend of Duane’s sister.
They were tasked with replacing all the documents and paperwork that was lost in the fire which included drivers licenses and birth certificates It was a monumental chore.
“My dad had two pictures taken of him. He was an American Indian and the photos burned up. The other side of the family’s momentums also burned up. Everything was gone,” Liz said.
Duane added, “All the jewelry and everything else that her great, great, grandparents had brought back over from Ireland had also burned up.”
Have a sense of humor
The fire continued for about three days and popping sounds from bullets could be heard inside the structure’s remains. There were no more computers, hard drives, firearms or a gun safe. It all lay on the grounds in the form of crumpled and blackened metal and ash.
“They said it dropped into the basement and had to have reached about 2,400 degrees down there. The fire even destroyed the concrete,” Duane said.
The responding fire department thought the fire may have been caused by an ember from the grill.
“We believe in God. We’ve been protected so many times. Liz has had three heart attacks in her 20s, congestive heart failure in her 40s and a stroke in her 60s,” Duane said.
It’s been more than two years since the fire, and they’re still trying to replace lost paperwork. They’re also still unsure of what the outcome will be with the insurance company.
“We got out with the dogs and the cats. We were all alive, nobody was injured and nobody got burned. We’re good, that’s the best way to look at it. You have to have a sense of humor to get past this stuff; otherwise, you’ll just sit there and mope,” Duane said.
Work on it
Advice Liz would give to others?
“Find one thing that you really love and work on it. That one thing will turn into another and another,” she said.
In the next five years, they’d like to travel and see the United States as that hasn’t happened for them yet.
Today, they go out and about enjoying thrift stores. They just look for different places to wander around together. Duane has many things he said he’s grateful for, including not having to use a cane as often due to artificial knees, hips and shoulders.
The Bowers have been married for 43 years and have three grown children. Adding to their joy are 17 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
“We got through it,” Liz said.