Glen Ellen ‘posse’ hunts for homes

It’s been two months since the October wildfires and, with Christmas approaching in hard-hit Glen Ellen, the holiday spirit abounds as neighbors reach out, creating hope where the devastation of homes makes a return to normalcy almost unimaginable.

One possible solution might be found among a group of friends who refer to themselves as the Glen Ellen Posse, 10 couples who met in the 1980s when they all had children at the Dunbar School. Since then have shared a monthly soup dinner, creating a bond that rises to every occasion. When Ed Davis learned that a couple in their posse lost their home, his efforts to help Mike and Jane Witkowski ultimately led to 39 families whose homes burned finding a new roof over their heads.

Davis set up a Facebook group, “Keep Them in Sonoma Valley – Homes for Fire Victims” sending it out to the “posse,” imploring them to identify available homes, possibly vacations rentals willing to convert to long term, and to spread the word. Within a flash there were more than 500 members, with the displaced describing what they needed and others offering places of refuge.

“It just exploded,” Davis said. He would then make matches, interviewing people and then introducing them through email. The site is still active.

In the beginning it was a more than full-time undertaking for Davis, and it consumed almost all his time after he and his wife were evacuated from Glen Ellen.

When posse member Maxine Hall learned of the Witkowski’s loss, she immediately contacted a homeowner on her Glen Ellen block, a woman who grew up in the home and started a vacation rental when she inherited the house. Honoring her Glen Ellen roots, the homeowner agreed to convert to long-term, and within days of losing their home, the Witkowskis had a place to rent until they can rebuild, thanks to Davis and their friends.

Posse members Margie and Rich Foster went into pay-it-forward mode when nearby houses went up in flames. Longtime Glen Ellen residents, the Fosters lost their original Sonoma creek-side home in a flood in 1986. At the time, a photo of Margie holding her then-toddler son, Evan, in her arms beside their decimated home appeared on the front page of the Index-Tribune, with the caption “emotionally and literally on the edge of a cliff.”

The Fosters received an outpouring of support at the time, including their neighbors selling them a piece of their land, so they could rebuild further back from the creek. Rich and Margie, their two young sons and her mother lived in a trailer on the property until their current home was built.

“Totally driven by that experience we looked at each other and said, ‘We can do this, we can help,’” Margie said. The Fosters purchased two large Trailblazer recreational vehicles, prepared their property to park them, including installing waste water systems, and are now housing two families who lost homes.

“As soon as the fires started I knew there were going to be people who lost their homes who were going to want to stay in the community. We wanted to help.”

The Fosters also own another home in Glen Ellen, a smaller property that they intended to downsize to in 2018. Long before the fires they had given the young couple living there notice that they would have to leave. After the fire the Fosters decided they would hold off on downsizing, wanting instead to let a family with kids at Dunbar rent the house.

Through Davis’ Facebook group, they found a couple with three daughters who had been renting a home in Glen Ellen at a reasonable rate and couldn’t find anything they could afford after their rental burned to the ground. The Fosters agreed to let them rent their home for two years at less than half market rate.

“We love it,” Angie Hernandez said, literally exuding relief and joy. Twenty-year residents of Glen Ellen, they are so thankful to have landed in the Fosters home. When their prior home burned, “I cried and cried and cried, I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “But now I feel much better. Our daughters are happy. Material things are not important. Just to be with our family we have everything.” Someone even bought them a Christmas tree.

“We are doing good.”

Another family who found respite through the Facebook site is Jeremy Catrambone and Tatum Davis and their family. Their son, Dalton, 7, has leukemia, and though he is in remission he is still on maintenance chemotherapy for another year.

The family has had a tough couple of years, and wanted to stay in the area so Dalton could continue at Kenwood Elementary School, where several of his friends have also lost homes; Catrambone works at BR Cohn Winery. They had been renting a Glen Ellen home owned by a friend Catrambone has known since they attended Sonoma Valley High School together, class of 1998, and they were paying well below market rate as Glen Ellen in recent years has become a pricey place to live.

Davis was able to match them with a homeowner who reached out give to their home to a needy family at no charge from November until April 2018. The couple is taking some time to think things through and recover from the horror of fleeing from flames, but in January will start searching again for a place to move to in April.

They are so appreciative to have landed in the lovely home they are in now, and are trying not to think about how unstable their situation is until after the holiday season. Long-term, they hope their friend will rebuild and they may be able to return to Warm Springs Road.

Meanwhile, the Witkowskis lived in a Novato motel for three weeks until the mandatory evacuation in Glen Ellen was lifted, and they were settled in their rental in time to host their traditional Thanksgiving dinner for 18, complete with homemade pies, folding chairs and linens, serving items and other essentials provided by their posse and other friends.

Mike taught at Dunbar for 34 years and Jane was a recreational therapist at the Sonoma Developmental Center since 1973 until they both recently retired. They lived in their 1,600-square-foot Glen Ellen home, where they raised their two daughters, for 42 years. They will rebuild their home, but this time it will be one story instead of two.

Their days are filled with dealing with insurance matters (attempting to answer questions like “What make and model was your washer and dryer?” and “How many sets of sheets did you have?”), lining up a contractor and architect, and shopping for life’s necessities.

The Witkowskis were on a camping trip in Monument Valley, Utah, when their daughter called and told them about the wildfires and they headed home. They were in transit when they got an email and photo from Davis confirming their fears, “Your house is gone.”

“We were stopped on the side of the freeway bawling,” Jane said, “Then you suck it up and drive home.” They feel very fortunate they weren’t home when it happened, because they didn’t go through the trauma of experiencing the fire. And of course that also meant they didn’t get to grab anything, either.

When Davis asked what they needed, they had one, clear answer. “I want to be in Glen Ellen. I’ve lived here for more than 40 years and I need to be in Glen Ellen. We are not going to leave. It’s home. It’s friends,” Jane said.

They have sifted through the ash and rubble that was their home and everything they owned, finding stray items. Jane had her mother’s salt and pepper collection and they found King Kong and the Empire State Building. The sterling silver, though, is completely melted and mangled, and a friend found only a few bits of her grandmother’s cherished diamond ring.

A small porcelain doll given to her grandmother as a gift when her father was born in 1925 is in almost perfect condition. Nothing else remains, not their cars or their kayaks or, well, anything.

They are so appreciative to have their rental home, which came furnished because it was a vacation rental. Jane says it is hard to get used to the art and decorative items that hang on the walls. “It first I felt like I was in a hotel and now it feels like somebody else’s house and I think, ‘I can’t go home. This isn’t a vacation.”

Things seem to be progressing slowly, and there is no indication yet of when their land will be cleared off, and nothing can happen until then. Mike worries about what happens if it takes more than two years, when their rental insurance coverage runs out. There is so much to ponder it is overwhelming.

“It’s just weird,” Jane said. “I find myself zoning out. I’m not upset, but I just zone out.”

Glen Ellen residents who have not lost their homes, though, have very much zoned in, and people-helping-people abounds. The Glen Ellen Forum has put together two community dinners, which the Witkowskis said were amazingly uplifting. Food and clothes and kitchen donations are plentiful.

The Witkowskis are so thankful for gift cards and moral support and most of all friendship.