Woman, 79, died in fire

Credit: Rick Fox | The News Herald

Nikki Johnson, left, and Larry Corpening examine the wreckage of a home at 3887 Smith Road, where Johnson's grandmother and Corpening's mother-in-law died in a fire early Sunday morning. Corpening said he and other family members attempted to rescue Ruby Pearson, 79, but were driven back by the inferno.

By: Sharon McBrayer | Morganton News Herald
Published: July 26, 2010

Morganton --

Ruby Pearson, 79, of 3887 Smith Road died in a house fire in the Chesterfield community early Sunday.
Family members tried unsuccessfully to rescue the woman, but said the intense heat drove them back. When firefighters arrived on the scene, the fire was too involved to attempt a rescue.
Firefighters got the call around 12:40 a.m. Sunday, according to information from Burke County Emergency Services.
Burke County Fire Marshal Mark Pitts said all indications are that it was an accidental fire that started in a bedroom.
Chesterfield Fire Department Capt. Dean Harmon said Pearson’s son, Paul Johnson, lived in the basement of the home and heard the smoke detector alarm. He tried to get to his mother, but was unable to because of the fire.
Larry Corpening, Pearson’s son-in-law, said he used a steel bar to try to get entry through a couple of windows and attempted to come up through the basement, but the fire beat back him and other family members.
Harmon said that when firefighters got to the house they tried to get inside and rescue Pearson, but the fire in the single-family brick home was too intense.
Saturday would have been Pearson’s 80th birthday, said family member William Johnson, and the family planned a big birthday celebration. Instead, he said, they will bury her.
Pearson lived in the Hartland community her whole life, said family members, and played basketball for Olive Hill High School. She raised six children and worked at Barnhardt Furniture for 11 years and at Drexel Furniture plant 3&5, said her daughter Paula Corpening as she sat in her home behind her mother’s house.
One of Pearson’s children was Walter R. Johnson, for whom the middle school in the Chesterfield community is named. Walter R. Johnson was a former school board member and board chairman during his four-year term.
“She was very outspoken, just like my brother Walter,” Paula Corpening said.
Pearson’s granddaughter, Nikki Johnson said, “She would say ‘I’m Ruby Pearson 365 days out of the year, seven days a week.”
Family members said Pearson also was a tough woman who survived a brain aneurysm, triple heart bypass, leukemia and a hip replacement.
She loved her family and tried to instill her values in her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Nikki Johnson said.
“I’m not going to lie, my grandmother was my best friend,” she said.
Pearson loved to read, work crossword puzzles and watch her soap operas, family members said.
She was at peace with her life as her health declined, her daughter said.
Paula Corpening said Pearson told her recently, “I’ve lived my life. It’s time to go home.” Pearson just didn’t expect she would go home this soon, Corpening added.
Nikki Johnson said, “I’ll tell you what, there’ll never be another one like her.”
Harmon said personnel from seven fire departments, as well as EMS and REACT, responded to the fire. He said the high outside temperature — still in the 80s almost until dawn — forced firefighters to rotate often to keep themselves from overheating. The Chesterfield, Oak Hill, Triple Community, Valdese, Drexel, Salem and Glen Alpine departments had crews at the scene.
In addition to the Burke County fire marshal, the SBI was called in to help with the investigation. Harmon said it’s standard procedure for the SBI to help when someone dies in a house fire.
Harmon said he will not release his determination about the cause of the fire until he gets results from an autopsy. It’s not clear how soon that will be.

Woman, 79, died in fire

Share This:

More from this channel:

Reader Comments

Deal of the Day

Most Popular

More Ways to Connect

Reader Photos» Browse More

Things to Do