Joe Simon has a lot of stories.
Sitting on a metal chair next to the ashy ruins of his home, which burnt down in March 14’s wildfires, he told story after story about how his log cabin came to be, all of it punctuated by laughter.
He talked about how one day, he and his father were out cutting down oak trees on a windy day - a day he admits they probably shouldn’t have tried such a feat - when one fell in the wrong direction on top of their tractor. It was a bit of a scuffle, but they eventually got everything under control.
“We got it shut down, and my dad goes, ‘We don’t mention this to your mom or your log cabin’s history,’” he said. “But it got better after that.”
While he spoke and entertained, his children picked through the debris, searching for a lockbox that was supposedly fireproof. Upon finally discovering it, they realized that it wasn’t actually fireproof - the group joked about getting a refund and telling the store the receipt was in the box - but at least it saved a collection of silver coins left to Joe by his late wife.
The little log cabin in the woods north of Chandler held a lot of memories for the Simon family. His son Jeff said it was all he’s ever known.
“It was no big deal. I can look at it now, I look back and go that’s pretty unique,” he said.
His stepsister, Rachel Disque-Pham, moved in when she was 13.
“We had lived different places, but we’d always rent, so… it was cool to us because I’d never been in a log cabin,” she said. “But it was home, you know.”
Joe got the idea to build the cabin after a family trip to Silver Dollar City in Branson. He saw a couple of men building one and thought to himself that he could do it. So, they came back on a Sunday and the very next day, he and his wife at the time went out and started marking trees. Then, they started cutting them down.
He cut around 128 to 138 oak trees from his property. He then peeled the bark off the trees and built the foundation. Joe said he did have help with the roof, but a vast majority of the work was done by him and his father, even though neither of them had any previous building experience.
“One day, he (his father) was standing back scratching his head, and he was looking at that, he goes, ‘Joe, I just don’t know how this all gonna work.’ And I said, ‘Dad, I don’t either. We gotta keep going and see what happens. Your negative attitude sure gives me depression, so let’s let’s cut (it) off… He just laughed, he goes, ‘Okay.’” On Friday, March 14, Joe heard about the fires. He got into his truck and headed out to see where they were, but didn’t come across any. He said he then got a phone call and stopped to answer it. It was at that time he looked in his side mirrors and saw the flames just behind him.
Joe said he called his family that lived nearby and told them to get out. He then raced back to the log cabin to get his dog, Joy. Just as he loaded her into the car, a sheriff’s department deputy showed up and told him he needed to evacuate.
It wasn’t but 20 or 30 minutes after that, his house was completely gone. The fire got as far as about 10 or so feet from his sister’s house next door before it was stopped.
According to Rachel and Jeff, it took a few more days after that before it was cool enough to start going through the debris to find things.
“At first, you know, you’re in shock. And then you’re sad, and then you want to self-pity yourself, but I refuse to do any of that,” Joe said. He added that one of the good things to come from the disaster is that it’s brought his family together. That and his faith is what’s important to him.
“This land is not. Even the people will pass away. All things will pass away. If you have a relationship with Him, that’s all that really matters. And the love that’s been shown to me from this community and from my family,” he said.