Those impacted most by apartment fire reflect on past year
Evan Young
Last updated: 2/7/08 at 9:29 AM CST Section: University News
Miserable.
It was the only word she could come up with to describe the year that has passed since losing her oldest son.
Brandon Kaut, a budding photographer, artist and musician, was one of two people killed when a grease fire engulfed Maryville's Carson Apartments in the early morning hours of Jan. 27, 2007.
In the subsequent, emotional months, his mother, Cindy White, left her job as an elementary special education teacher and watched sons Kendall and Triston White struggle with their grades despite support from their schools in Appleton City, Mo.
She stayed at home making memory quilts from her son's photos and drawings.
"(Brandon) had just started his life, and it seemed like it all just crashed," Cindy said.
Fueling their grief most was, and still is, an overall lack of support from the Maryville community, Cindy said.
Brandon, who was 22, went to Northwest for a couple of years, where he studied graphic design; worked at Maryville's Kawasaki plant with the fire's other victim, Derrick Schafer, 28, of New Market, Iowa; and was even saving money to open his own photography studio.
Yet beyond his group of close friends, who have been "wonderful," it's become evident to Brandon's family that their tragic loss has been "pushed under the rug," Cindy said.
"We had a memorial service (shortly after the fire) … and all of his friends came, but no one else from the community showed up. There was one flower there, from Derrick Schafer's family," she said. "That hurts. Brandon loved Maryville."
The feeling of being left in the dark continues today, she said. As the fire's one-year anniversary came and went, Cindy heard of no plans to commemorate the tragedy and wasn't even sure what had become of the Carson site.
Still, Cindy thinks her family's loss has made them stronger.
"I've become a very overprotective mother with my two sons," she said. "You never go a day without saying 'I love you' and giving hugs, something you just have to do now."
In addition, the family has worked hard to keep Brandon's legacy alive. Cindy kept his MySpace.com profile open and created an additional virtual memorial, while one of his close friends maintains a memorial MySpace page - filled from top to bottom with Brandon's creative photography and unique artwork.
Brandon graduated from Appleton City High School, and to help his artistic dreams come true, his family teamed with U.S. Bank to create the Brandon Kaut Art Scholarship Fund, to be awarded annually to an Appleton City senior pursuing a career in art or photography.
As for the future, the family will continue to move forward, "picking up the pieces," Cindy said.
She, Brandon's brothers and his stepfather, G.C. White, have started a family tradition. Christmas dinner this year was from Domino's Pizza in honor of the last time they were with Brandon. When they arrived in Maryville to see him on Christmas Eve 2006, it was too late to go to Hy-Vee or Wal-Mart to buy groceries for meals. The family spent the weekend eating Domino's and Hardee's, Cindy said.
She wants to start teaching again, possibly starting this fall.
"I would like to go back, give it another shot," she said. "Hopefully."
What remains
The Carson Apartments fire displaced residents in 14 of the complex's 15 units, including eight Northwest students. All of the residents eventually found new housing, though not all of them had insurance on the possessions they lost, according to Maryville Public Safety.
No charges were ever filed against anyone, including Alfred Maina, the young man who fell asleep while cooking french fries on a stove and awoke to the fire that took out the entire complex. The investigation into the blaze found nothing, and it remains an accident, Public Safety Director Keith Wood said.
After the flames rekindled on firefighters several times that night, Public Safety ordered the building be demolished. The rubble sat at the site until a permit for its removal was issued in early June 2007, Public Works Director Greg Decker said.
Hiawatha Tool Co. of Kansas City owns the empty lot, Decker said. However, an official from the company couldn't be reached for comment about the property's future.
Resilient receiver
The lowlight of Abe Qaoud's past 12 months may come as a surprise.
He looks beyond the fractured eye socket and ribs, separated shoulder, bruised lung and third-degree leg burns he sustained after jumping from his third-story window at the burning Carson Apartments last January - injuries that very nearly ended his life, let alone his career as wide receiver for the Bearcats.The St. Louis native brushes aside the six skin-graph surgeries in six weeks he endured to repair those burned legs and the months of rehab it took to prepare him for his return to football last fall. A healthy, athletic lifestyle greatly helped him achieve that, he said.
He even called the whole experience "easy" compared to what his younger brother, David, a heart transplant recipient and constant inspiration, had to go through.
For Abe, the last year's low point was the Bearcats' 25-20 loss to Valdosta State last December in Alabama, their third straight Division II National Championship defeat.
"Personally, I came back and all that stuff, but I never felt like I was not going to come back. It was just all part of the plan," he said.
"If we would've just won that last game, everything would've been a lot different, but now it's just back to square one."
Workouts and training are going much better now than they were a few months ago. Abe said he feels faster and stronger each day preparing for next season, although he's not 100 percent healed. The leg braces his doctors told him to wear will stay on for a couple more years because he's so used to wearing them.
His goal is to bring all he can to the sky-high expectations of Bearcat football and leave his last season as a national champion.
Off the field, the business management and marketing double major still plans to graduate next December, having caught up with his schoolwork last summer. After that, his real world playbook has yet to be filled.
"Whoever hires me, I'll be happy," he said.
Abe remains thankful for the support he's received from the University and Maryville over the past year. He's moved into a new apartment, furnished mostly by helping hands from the community, he said.
He's especially grateful for assistant athletic trainer Kelly Quinlin, with whom he lived and made it through rehab after his hospital stay at the University of Kansas Medical Center ended last March. Without her guidance, Abe claims he'd still be on crutches.
Fortunately, Abe couldn't pick one highlight from the past year because, he admitted, there were too many from which to choose. But he was able to pinpoint a couple of words to describe it overall.
"It was life changing … I realized that you always hear people saying you never know what's gonna happen tomorrow, but it's true," Abe said. "You never know what's gonna happen tomorrow, man. That's what I learned from 2007."
It was the only word she could come up with to describe the year that has passed since losing her oldest son.
Brandon Kaut, a budding photographer, artist and musician, was one of two people killed when a grease fire engulfed Maryville's Carson Apartments in the early morning hours of Jan. 27, 2007.
In the subsequent, emotional months, his mother, Cindy White, left her job as an elementary special education teacher and watched sons Kendall and Triston White struggle with their grades despite support from their schools in Appleton City, Mo.
She stayed at home making memory quilts from her son's photos and drawings.
"(Brandon) had just started his life, and it seemed like it all just crashed," Cindy said.
Fueling their grief most was, and still is, an overall lack of support from the Maryville community, Cindy said.
Brandon, who was 22, went to Northwest for a couple of years, where he studied graphic design; worked at Maryville's Kawasaki plant with the fire's other victim, Derrick Schafer, 28, of New Market, Iowa; and was even saving money to open his own photography studio.
Yet beyond his group of close friends, who have been "wonderful," it's become evident to Brandon's family that their tragic loss has been "pushed under the rug," Cindy said.
"We had a memorial service (shortly after the fire) … and all of his friends came, but no one else from the community showed up. There was one flower there, from Derrick Schafer's family," she said. "That hurts. Brandon loved Maryville."
The feeling of being left in the dark continues today, she said. As the fire's one-year anniversary came and went, Cindy heard of no plans to commemorate the tragedy and wasn't even sure what had become of the Carson site.
Still, Cindy thinks her family's loss has made them stronger.
"I've become a very overprotective mother with my two sons," she said. "You never go a day without saying 'I love you' and giving hugs, something you just have to do now."
In addition, the family has worked hard to keep Brandon's legacy alive. Cindy kept his MySpace.com profile open and created an additional virtual memorial, while one of his close friends maintains a memorial MySpace page - filled from top to bottom with Brandon's creative photography and unique artwork.
Brandon graduated from Appleton City High School, and to help his artistic dreams come true, his family teamed with U.S. Bank to create the Brandon Kaut Art Scholarship Fund, to be awarded annually to an Appleton City senior pursuing a career in art or photography.
As for the future, the family will continue to move forward, "picking up the pieces," Cindy said.
She, Brandon's brothers and his stepfather, G.C. White, have started a family tradition. Christmas dinner this year was from Domino's Pizza in honor of the last time they were with Brandon. When they arrived in Maryville to see him on Christmas Eve 2006, it was too late to go to Hy-Vee or Wal-Mart to buy groceries for meals. The family spent the weekend eating Domino's and Hardee's, Cindy said.
She wants to start teaching again, possibly starting this fall.
"I would like to go back, give it another shot," she said. "Hopefully."
What remains
The Carson Apartments fire displaced residents in 14 of the complex's 15 units, including eight Northwest students. All of the residents eventually found new housing, though not all of them had insurance on the possessions they lost, according to Maryville Public Safety.
No charges were ever filed against anyone, including Alfred Maina, the young man who fell asleep while cooking french fries on a stove and awoke to the fire that took out the entire complex. The investigation into the blaze found nothing, and it remains an accident, Public Safety Director Keith Wood said.
After the flames rekindled on firefighters several times that night, Public Safety ordered the building be demolished. The rubble sat at the site until a permit for its removal was issued in early June 2007, Public Works Director Greg Decker said.
Hiawatha Tool Co. of Kansas City owns the empty lot, Decker said. However, an official from the company couldn't be reached for comment about the property's future.
Resilient receiver
The lowlight of Abe Qaoud's past 12 months may come as a surprise.
He looks beyond the fractured eye socket and ribs, separated shoulder, bruised lung and third-degree leg burns he sustained after jumping from his third-story window at the burning Carson Apartments last January - injuries that very nearly ended his life, let alone his career as wide receiver for the Bearcats.The St. Louis native brushes aside the six skin-graph surgeries in six weeks he endured to repair those burned legs and the months of rehab it took to prepare him for his return to football last fall. A healthy, athletic lifestyle greatly helped him achieve that, he said.
He even called the whole experience "easy" compared to what his younger brother, David, a heart transplant recipient and constant inspiration, had to go through.
For Abe, the last year's low point was the Bearcats' 25-20 loss to Valdosta State last December in Alabama, their third straight Division II National Championship defeat.
"Personally, I came back and all that stuff, but I never felt like I was not going to come back. It was just all part of the plan," he said.
"If we would've just won that last game, everything would've been a lot different, but now it's just back to square one."
Workouts and training are going much better now than they were a few months ago. Abe said he feels faster and stronger each day preparing for next season, although he's not 100 percent healed. The leg braces his doctors told him to wear will stay on for a couple more years because he's so used to wearing them.
His goal is to bring all he can to the sky-high expectations of Bearcat football and leave his last season as a national champion.
Off the field, the business management and marketing double major still plans to graduate next December, having caught up with his schoolwork last summer. After that, his real world playbook has yet to be filled.
"Whoever hires me, I'll be happy," he said.
Abe remains thankful for the support he's received from the University and Maryville over the past year. He's moved into a new apartment, furnished mostly by helping hands from the community, he said.
He's especially grateful for assistant athletic trainer Kelly Quinlin, with whom he lived and made it through rehab after his hospital stay at the University of Kansas Medical Center ended last March. Without her guidance, Abe claims he'd still be on crutches.
Fortunately, Abe couldn't pick one highlight from the past year because, he admitted, there were too many from which to choose. But he was able to pinpoint a couple of words to describe it overall.
"It was life changing … I realized that you always hear people saying you never know what's gonna happen tomorrow, but it's true," Abe said. "You never know what's gonna happen tomorrow, man. That's what I learned from 2007."
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