It’s often said that hardship helps people grow stronger. Joe and Teresa can relate. In their lowest moment, they summoned the strength to rebuild – with a big assist from Joe’s work family at Huntsville Hospital.
The first call Joe made that awful day, Aug. 13, 2022, was to his boss, Huntsville Hospital Environmental Services Director David Crump. Foreshadowing the generosity the Robisons would experience from countless co-workers, friends and strangers, David drove straight to Wal-Mart on a Saturday morning to buy clothes for Joe, Teresa and their son Brandon, who was at work when the fire started.
“David was here for us immediately,” says Teresa. “We’d lost our house, but we at least had clothes now. And that helped to relieve my stress level.”
As word spread about the tragedy, more hospital employees stepped forward to help in ways big and small. Homemade meals. Restaurant gift cards. Cash. A mountain of clothes. Pots and pans. Furniture. Fresh linens. The outpouring of generosity continued for months.
“It wasn’t like the house burned down and ‘Here you go,’ and then you never hear from anybody again,” Teresa said. “I still, two years later, get text messages from people at the hospital: How are you doing? We’re praying for you.”
“So many people at the hospital have helped us that there’s no way I could name them all,” says Joe, who has worked for HH’s Environmental Services since 2010. “All I can say is that they’ve blessed us tremendously.”
The Madison community also rallied behind the Robisons. Teresa’s boss at Mizell’s Renovations helped stabilize what was left of their home so fire officials and insurance adjusters could walk around safely. A Realtor friend organized a fundraiser at Valentina’s Pizzeria & Wine Bar. Southern Craft Homes rebuilt their home at a steep discount.
“They say that out of the ashes rises something good; that’s definitely true with us,” Teresa said.
The Robisons are originally from Las Vegas and love to entertain. On the day of the fire, they had invited Teresa’s co-workers over for a pool party and BBQ. Joe had put a pork shoulder on the grill to slow-cook overnight and went to bed.
Somehow, the grill caught fire. The flames spread from the patio to the attic; the heat was so intense that it even damaged the pool. Joe and Teresa escaped with their lives but lost almost everything they owned.
The gravity of their situation didn’t really hit home until weeks later, as the couple flew back to Huntsville following a long-planned Hawaiian cruise to celebrate their 29th wedding anniversary.
“We were driving home from the airport, and I realized that I didn’t have a home to go back to,” Teresa said. “That’s when I just lost it.”
Today, the tears have been replaced by smiles. Joe and Teresa had insurance and were able to rebuild on the same property. Their new two-story home on Dove Drive is nearly a carbon copy of the original – but in some ways even better.
Joe did the tile work himself – a reminder of his previous career as a tile setter in Las Vegas casinos. And before the drywall went up, Teresa wrote her favorite Bible verse, Psalm 23 (“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”), on the new wooden studs near where the fire started.
“My grandmother had cross-stitched Psalm 23 many years ago, and it was hanging in the kitchen of our old house,” Teresa said. “The fire destroyed it, but the words are still there, behind the walls.”
