DETROIT (WXYZ) — A 90-year-old woman has died after a house fire early Wednesday morning. The fire broke out just before 3 o'clock at a home on Orleans St. near Robinwood St.
Neighbors identified the victim as Jeannie Gaye.
"Words are not enough. I’m just really sad," said Katie Harvey who has lived in the neighborhood since 1967.
Harvey says she would often come and sit with Mr. and Mrs. Gaye. She says when she heard an elder woman died Wednesday, she drove to the home to see if it was true.
"I grew up here from '67 until now and I came around here oftentimes to sit with her and her husband Mr. Gaye. He was president of the block club. They were wonderful, wonderful people," said Harvey. "She was very meek, very mild, soft-spoken, nurturing. She was always asking if you’re okay. She was a caregiver for her husband."
The fire brought neighbors from present and past back to the home Wednesday afternoon, including Kanesha McGee who says she lived next door to Mrs. Gaye for more than 20 years. Her family moved in 2015.
"My mom was pretty much like a second daughter to them. If my mom needed whatever, they looked out," said McGee. "I came by last year and seen her for a minute, we exchanged numbers."
McGee recalled Mrs. Gaye taking her to a women's convention and out to dinner when her granddaughter came into town. She says it's difficult to imagine Mrs. Gaye dying this way.
"When I got the news, it was just shocking because I never would have thought anything like this would ever happen, " said McGee. "It brings tears to your eyes because, like I said, I been inside this house. I used to run through, be in the backyard. It just seems so surreal"
A neighbor who spoke with 7 Action News Crews off camera says he was out walking his dog at the time of the fire. He says he rushed to the home to try to help after smelling smoke and seeing flames. However, Mrs. Gaye was lying on the floor, seemingly unconscious.
"Everybody came out to help and we just, she couldn’t get to the black door," said neighbor Vickie Merritt. "It was very devastating to see especially an elder person that I was really close with."
Merritt says she and her sister, who lives next door to her, would go over and visit Gaye often. Merritt says every year she made her specialty pound cake for Gaye for her birthday. She'd just made the cake for her as she celebrated her 90th birthday in October.
"Every year or a special occasion she needed something, I was there for her and she was there for everybody. She was sweet to everybody in the neighborhood," said Merritt. "She was very sweet, lovable, spoke to everybody, didn’t say a nasty word about anybody. She was very kind to everybody that I know. She was like Grandma."
The Detroit Fire Department says they’re still working to determine if there was a working smoke alarm inside of the house. Chief James Harris says security bars, which were installed inside every window on the ground floor to prevent break-ins, may have made it difficult for the elder to get out safely. They're still working to determine the cause of the fire.
Neighbors say while this is a tragic ending, they’re grateful Mrs. Gaye lived a full life.
"She’s a blessing and I will always remember everything I ever learned from her," said Merritt.
