Asheville Watchdog is bringing you the stories behind the staggering loss of life from Helene, the children, parents, grandparents, multiple generations of a single family, all gone in one of the worst natural disasters to hit the mountains of western North Carolina. This is the second installment.  

As Tropical Storm Helene barreled through on Sept. 27, Jesse Craig and his wife hunkered in their basement in Fletcher while trees fell on and around their house, flattening one vehicle and severely damaging another.

Craig spoke to his father, Ronald Craig, in Fairview and told him he may need his help. ‘ “I’ll talk to you when this thing clears up,’ ” he told his dad. 

Late that afternoon, as Craig and his wife, Mekenzie, made their way out of their neighborhood, he received a brief call, the first and only one he got for days with cell service virtually disabled by the storm.

“It was my brother. He asked if I was sitting down,” Craig recalled. “And he said, ‘Mom and Dad are gone.’ I’m like, ‘What? Where would they go? What do you mean?’ He said, ‘They’re dead.’ ” 

Installment 1 of The Lives We Lost:  Helene took entire families, couples, children

Over the next tortuous hours, Craig made his way to his parents’ home in the Garren Creek community in a hollow called Craigtown, named after his family who settled there decades ago. He dodged fallen trees and walked the last two miles, impassable by car, in tennis shoes and shorts to a shocking scene. 

The valley that had been home to multiple generations of his family had been obliterated by four successive landslides. And his parents were not the only victims.

Craig had lost 11 of his family members: his father and mother, Ronald and Sandra Craig; aunt and uncle, Lois and James Souther; great uncle and aunt, Daniel and Evelyn Wright; and cousins Freddie and Teresa Pack, Angela Craig, Tony Garrison and Brandon Ruppe.

Garrison, a battalion chief with the Fairview Fire Department, and his nephew, Ruppe, died attempting to rescue a survivor after one landslide when another one swept away the ground beneath them. 

Two other residents unrelated to the family perished, Chase Garrell, and another victim who has not been officially identified. 

The loss of lives, 13 total, made the Garren Creek landslides among the deadliest in North Carolina history and accounted for the largest cluster of deaths from Helene in Buncombe County, more than one quarter of the 42 in the official count of fatalities.

“Everybody’s lost someone over there that we’re related to and and just the horrificness of it, how It happened, is devastating,” said Cyndi Williams, daughter of Daniel and Evelyn Wright. “I feel blessed that they are together, that they left this cruel world together, but it’s still heart-wrenching for us.”

Williams had been in New York visiting her son during the storm and began seeing Facebook posts about the catastrophe in Craigtown, fearing the worst for her parents.

“I just held out hope that they were just missing and that someone had got them, or they had gotten out and gotten to safety but just didn’t have the phone service to get in touch with anybody,” Williams said.

Her hope faded as the devastation became clearer. ‘It was just like their house exploded,” Williams said. “Everything was just destroyed, and so then we knew that probably nobody could have survived that.”

The debris flow hurtling down the mountain shattered everything in its path, mangling steel beams, crumpling cars and demolishing brick houses.

A metal gun case belonging to Jesse Craig’s father was found more than a mile from his home.

Craig spent the days following the disaster searching the mud and debris from early morning until after dark.

“We were looking for our family,” he said. “We just wanted to find them and find their belongings. We wanted to try to get keepsakes for everybody.” 

Search and rescue crews found his mother’s body Oct. 5, eight days after the landslides, and his father’s remains Oct. 7, about a half mile from their house.

The survivors of the deceased have been burying their loved ones in a painfully familiar routine. By month’s end, Williams will have attended seven funerals, including one scheduled Friday for her parents.

“They were always good people, good Christian people,” Williams said. “We know where they are, and we have the hope of seeing them again…I think that’s what’s got us through.”

Ronald and Sandra Craig

Ronald “Ronnie” and Sandra “Sandy” Craig lived in Craigtown most of their lives, Jesse Craig said.

“My dad, he loved to hunt and fish. That was his life,” his son said.

A retired brick mason, Ronnie, 68, “was a good craftsman” and approached projects and most everything “slow and methodical,” he said. “If you wanted it up fast, you might as well not even waste your time, but it was right.”

Craig said his father had “the greenest thumb of anybody I’ve ever met. I mean, he was an unbelievable gardener.”

He grew vegetables and fruits. “We had apple trees, peach trees, plums, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes,” Jesse Craig said.

Sandy, 69, had been an administrative associate for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, according to her death certificate. 

“She retired several years ago, but she loved the ladies that she worked with, and she loved her job,” her son said.

“She was a great cook,” he said. “Her kitchen was her domain, and I got that from her… It was a habit for me to… go in the kitchen and start messing around. Boy, buddy, she would kick me out of there so fast.”

The couple enjoyed beach trips with their family. Married 49 years, they were lifetime members of Chestnut Hill Baptist Church.

Lois and James Souther

Ronnie’s sister, Asheville native Lois Souther, 73, worked for electronics manufacturers for more than 45 years before retiring. She “was a loving wife, mother, and Granna. She found great joy in hummingbirds and flowers and was a devoted member of Chestnut Hill Baptist Church,” her obituary said. 

Her husband, Jimmy, 73, worked at one of the same manufacturers, where he met his wife. 

“His real joy was working on cars and lawnmowers,” an obituary said. “Jimmy was a loving husband, father, and Paw. He was also an avid hunter and fisherman.”

“One of their greatest joys together was supporting their son and grandchildren in the stands at AC Reynolds [High School] by attending all softball, baseball and football games,” the obituary said.

Daniel and Evelyn Wright

Daniel and Evelyn Wright, married more than 65 years, cherished their relatives and church family at Cedar Mountain Baptist Church, where Dan served as deacon and Evelyn played the piano and sang, according to their obituary. 

Dan, 82, owned Daniel Wright Masonry and was a brick and block mason. An avid outdoorsman, he enjoyed working in his yard and garden, hunting, and fishing, according to the obituary.

Evelyn, 81, loved cooking and “was the best biscuit maker,” the obituary said.

“They loved to garden. They did a lot of canning,” said Williams, their daughter. “They loved all of us and all their grandkids; they just doted all over us. They were just genuinely amazing people, kind sweet people.” 

Freddie and Teresa Pack

Freddie Pack, 66, was an electrician and owned Fred’s Electric. He was a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, who enjoyed being outside, playing with his grandchildren, hunting and fishing, his obituary said.

His wife, Teresa “Terri”, 60, worked as a pharmacy technician and taught children at Chestnut Hill Baptist Church, where she coordinated the Christmas play. She enjoyed Asheville Tourists baseball games and taking her grandchildren to Dollywood, her obituary said.

Angela Craig

Angela “Angie” Craig, 64, worked as a regional program representative for the state of North Carolina and was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by the governor for “significant contributions to the state and their communities” when she retired in 2022.

“She loved animals, gardening in her beautiful yard, her church and most of all, her family,” her obituary said.

At the time of the landslide, Angie and her husband, Don, were sitting on their front porch, Williams said. “They both were swept away, but Don was rescued,” she said.

Tony Garrison and Brandon Ruppe

Among the rescuers that day were Tony Garrison and his nephew, Robert Brandon Ruppe.

In addition to being a battalion chief at Fairview, Garrison volunteered at the Garren Creek Fire Department, located adjacent to the homes buried in the landslide.

Garrison, Ruppe and Garrison’s son, Dylan, had rescued one person in a house and were attempting to reach another in a truck when a landslide once again swept through the valley. Only Dylan survived.

“The only thing that we really know is that he was attempting to help the individuals in that community,” said Landon Miller, EMS coordinator with the Fairview Fire Department.

“The torrential rainfall that we’d had and the rain prior to the actual hurricane event taking place had just weakened the mountain, and it slid down to the bedrock and shifted down through that valley,” Miller said.

Garrison, 51, died of drowning and “compression asphyxia,” and Ruppe, 37, of landslide injuries, according to death certificates.

Garrison, affectionately known as “Bones” or “G,” dedicated his life to “serving others with bravery, humility, and an unwavering love for his community,” his obituary said. 

“He was very supportive of his community, his family,” Miller said. “He was a church-going individual, just overall a good person, very humble, willing to help in any way he could.”

Garrison enjoyed woodworking, fishing, and his family, his obituary said.

“He had a great sense of humor,” Miller said. “He was always wanting to try to keep the mood light.”

Ruppe was generous, loyal and brave, his obituary said, with “an enormous heart, and a wonderful sense of humor that could light up a room.” He worked in sales for Goodwill Industries, according to his death certificate.

Chase Garrell

Chase Garrell, a 28-year-old auto mechanic, “touched the lives of so many people including family and friends in Florida, his Expertech Family, along with his Saturday cookout family,” his obituary said. 

Though he wasn’t related to the Craig extended family, his obituary described him as the adopted son of Terri Pack.

“Chase could always light up a room and make everyone smile,” his obituary said. “He was a fierce and loyal friend and would have your back no matter what. He was selfless and always willing to help.”

Faith and family aid survivors

Jesse Craig never felt endangered in the peaceful valley, where he grew up fishing in streams and ponds.

“I would have felt safer here than anywhere because there were no trees that were going to get the house,” he said. “These streams were never big enough. They’ve never been out of the bank.”

The overwhelming grief sometimes overcomes him. “We just try to stay busy, lean on one another,” he said. “We’re all very strong in our faith, and our little church is up on top of the hill, and we were all members up there.”

A GoFundMe page set up to help the Craig family with rebuilding, unemployment and funeral expenses had raised more than $297,000 as of Wednesday.

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Sally Kestin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter. Email skestin@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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