The old saying, "being at the right place at the right time," came true for two families a good many years ago. These families being my mother and daddy, Charles and Virginia Herring, myself and my sister, Glenda, along with my mother's sister Marguerite Kent, her husband Jimmy, and their two daughters, Nyce and Kay.
My family had spent the day visiting with them, doing things together that we did almost every weekend. A very fun day playing with my cousins was nothing out of the ordinary.
Night began to fall, and there was an unusual cold in this winter's night. I remember it being so cold that we refused to even go outside. My mother and daddy decided it was just too cold to drive back to Winona, which would have been around eight miles. Thank goodness for this decision, as there was no way we could have envisioned what about to take place.
Mother and Daddy slept in one bedroom, but Glenda and I were tucked in safely in the same double bed as Nyce and Kay. Sometime in the night my Uncle Jimmy Kent was awakened from the sound of me coughing severely.
Needless to say, it didn't take him but a split second to realize their house was on fire. Having only minutes to spare, he woke all the adults with instructions to get the children out. No time to grab anything, no time to ponder, just get out and run as fast as you can to the cars, because you see, this house was burning to the ground quickly.
There was one problem though. My cousin Nyce, who was always a sleepy head, escaped back into the burning house. She was quickly retrieved by my uncle and father.
The Kents had to move to town with our grandfather, John Fullilove, until they find another home. I just remember being told that Dr. Crull had to check the lungs of both families for what seemed like months afterward.
Without my coughing that cold winter's night, neither of our families would be here. Thank goodness I was in the right place at the right time.
