Striffler Hamby Mortuary

And among the reasons Susan and Gerry Wieczorek and their heroes, Tom Mullen and Bruce Machado, will be especially thankful this Thanksgiving are the previously unrelated events that combined to turn devastation into celebration. All of which has provided renewed appreciation for good neighbors and cherished life. Thanksgiving was “just words before,” Susan said. “It’s the experience now.” Call them coincidences or divine intervention, but the folks involved in this story still marvel at the circumstances that converged as the night of Oct. 28 turned into the morning of Oct. 29 at their Moore’s Forest cul-de-sac on Gray Shoals Drive. The survivors Gerry and Susan, both 65, had been living in that 40-year-old house for 34 years. They raised three children there. They had just paid off their mortgage in May. Susan retired in June as a nurse practitioner at Columbus Medical Associates for...