‘A needless death’: Missouri woman mourns loss of 96-year-old grandmother killed in fire
On Sunday, 96-year-old Lorene Fickess’ six children gathered at her home near Polo, Missouri, for Mother’s Day.
She asked her oldest son if he thought she would live to 100.
“He said ‘Absolutely, yes,’” her granddaughter Christal Hicks said. “And two days later, she’s gone.”
Fickess died in a fire Tuesday. Authorities in Caldwell County, about 50 miles northeast of Kansas City, believe a string of fires at three homes were acts of arson.
“We want answers,” Hicks said. “It doesn’t change the outcome, but we would like answers and we don’t want to see another family have to go through something like this.”
Fickess and her husband moved into the home in 1958. They had seven kids, one of whom died of cancer as an adult.
She “took care of the family and she loved to garden and loved her flowers, was an excellent cook,” said Hicks, of Polo. “She loved her family dearly.”
The stay-at-home mom was known for collecting chicken figurines and serving pineapple out of the can during the hot summer months when her grandchildren would visit, the smell of lilacs from her garden wafting into the house.
In 2013, Fickess’ husband died, but she continued to live independently at their home.
“She was really proud of the fact that she was 96 and living on her own with her cat and doing well,” Hicks said.
On Tuesday, Hicks and her father got a call from Fickess’ neighbor saying there was a fire.
“I was under the assumption that she was out of the house and then when we arrived, we were told she was still inside,” said Hicks, who added that the cat also perished in the house fire.
The neighbor had tried to save Fickess, but the door was too hot and he couldn’t get in, Hicks said.
Her grandmother would have been 97 on June 11.
“I guess I just didn’t expect her story to end this way,” Hicks said.
“We just feel like this was definitely a needless death.”
Fire crews responded to two more fires Tuesday along the same road, Southwest State Route D. Those houses were vacant.
Police are looking for a man driving a black SUV with tinted windows, which neighbors say was seen near each of the three homes at the time of the fires. It is a dark, 4-door passenger vehicle, potentially a Dodge Caliber.
Anyone with information about the fires is asked to call the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office at 816-586-2681.
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 3:59 PM.
