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Eaton Fire forces woman to flee her home just hours after husband's death

Monrovia woman forced to evacuate from Eaton Fire hours after her husband died
Monrovia woman forced to evacuate from Eaton Fire hours after her husband died 02:10

When the rapidly moving Eaton Fire erupted on Tuesday it forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes in a moment's notice. One of those people had to leave behind their husband of more than six decades just hours after he passed.

"I didn't have time to get everything," said 87-year-old Barbara Fetter. "They said, 'You have to go right now.'"

She was among the residents at the Royal Oaks Senior Living Community who had to pack up and leave suddenly on Wednesday, when the fire changed course and put the property and their lives in danger. 

While other residents were rushed to the point that they couldn't grab clothes, photographs or other mementos, Fetter was forced to leave something much more profound behind. 

Just two hours before the evacuation orders were issued, Merle Fetter, her husband of 64 years, died while in the living center's hospice care. 

"I held his hand four or five hours," she recalled. 

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Merle Fetter, who died in hospice care just hours before the Eaton Fire closed in on the nursing center where he lived with his wife of more than 60 years. KCAL News

She was ushered out, leaving his body behind, which living center workers were unable to evacuate, and her with questions of what could possibly come next. 

Her daughter, Joy, was thousands of miles away when the tragedy struck. 

"I didn't know where my mother was, I didn't know what happened to my father's body," she said. 

Unable to board a plane until Friday, she was also left with questions of uncertainty until she landed in Southern California. It was then that she received a reassuring call from her mother, assuring her that she was okay and her father's remains taken to the coroner's office. 

Royal Oaks staff members say they're going to do everything they can to accommodate Fetter in the wake of two life-changing moments on the same day. 

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Barbara and Merle Fetter. KCAL News

"We're there to partner with the family, give them what they need," said Royal Oaks Executive Director Jeremiah Hovesepian. 

Now, the Fetter family, who live all over the world including in New England, New York and Papa New Guinea — where Merle did missionary work decades ago — will descend upon Southern California as he and his wife did 30 years prior. While this time it's to plan a funeral, with little time to grieve, Barbara is still somehow maintaining a positive outlook and taking one day at a time.

"We loved each other a lot."

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