Shawnee Family Seeks Help For Funeral Costs After Deadly Seminole Trailer Fire

 An Oklahoma family is mourning the loss of two people -- after a fire in Seminole. This -- while they were already in the grieving process. The family needs help burying their loved ones. 

At a Shawnee home – two sisters and a brother shared their pain from loss. “It happens in a split second,” Alana Gibson, at her sister Shira Gibson’s home in Shawnee. 

Death is too familiar for this family; too common to comprehend. “We lost our aunt last year,” Alana Gibson said.  

They listed some of the names of family members they have lost in recent years. “I’ve had too much grief already,” Shira Gibson said. 

This list has only grown. “We learned that this weekend,” Alana Gibson said. Alana’s uncle Al and her 18-year-old sister Calista died early Sunday morning after she said their trailer caught fire. “She was supposed to graduate this month actually,” Alana Gibson said. “The worst phone call that someone can ever receive.” 

 Al helped raise Koda and he lived with his sister for seven years. “She was my closest sister,” Koda Clark said. 

Their biological mom remains absent from their lives. “We don’t even know if our biological mom knows that Calista is gone,” Koda Clark said. 

Alana said they couldn’t get ahold of their mother to tell her the news. Alana feels her sister’s absence. “Yeah. A lot,” she said. 

This loss -- cuts a deeper nerve. “I don’t know how to go through life without them,” Alana Gibson said. 

All they have left are memories and photos from their childhood. “They were very loving people,” Alana Gibson said. 

Their faith in where their loved ones are provides some comfort. “I just know that Calista’s up there just looking at us,” Shira Gibson said. “She’s smiling. She looks beautiful.” 

No matter how many times this experience calls – it never numbs the hurt. “I’ve cried five times today,” Alana Gibson said. 

Grief reminds this family about the love they share -- so they can heal together. “A home isn’t a house,” Koda Clark said. “It’s the people that make it.” 

The Gibson family has a GoFundMe page for anyone who would like to donate to help their family with funeral costs.