After playing cards and spending time by the fireplace on Monday, the tired family went to sleep, brushing their teeth and settling into bed while the Houston area went into one of its coldest nights.
The family home in Sugar Land, like millions of others in the state of Lone Star until then, had no power.
Edison, 8, went to the bedroom of his 11-year-old sister, Olivia, who had bunk beds. The children’s grandmother, Loan Le, planned to sleep with the youngest, Colette, 5 years old. And the children’s mother, Jackie Nguyen, 41, went to her room.
These are the final moments that Nguyen remembers about the night.
By 2 am, Sugar Land firefighters were responding to a fire reported by a neighbor who found the family home on fire, said Doug Adolph, a city and department spokesman. The three children and Le died. Nguyen and a friend were taken to a hospital for injuries that included smoke inhalation and burns.
“I only know that I woke up in the hospital,” said Nguyen on Sunday.
To help honor Nguyen children, visit the Go Fund Me website.
Almost a week after the fire, Adolph said there were no updates on the investigation into the cause of the fire. The family had been trying to warm themselves up with a fireplace, according to posts on their social media accounts, Adolph said.
“Obviously they were trying to stay warm,” said Adolph at the time. “We can’t say that was the cause, we just think we know that they were using a fireplace.”
In the days after the deadly fire, Nguyen said he misses everything about his children. The other day, she missed taking them to school. And at 4 pm, she missed seeing them coming home.
“Most of all, I think, what I’m going to miss is just watching them grow and become these incredible human beings that I knew they would be,” she said.
A few years ago, when Nguyen went into labor with Colette on the day that marked Olivia’s birthday, the older child was thrilled.
“Oh my God,” Nguyen recalled his first son saying. “I’m going to have a twin sister.”
Olivia has matured since then, developing an intelligence and interest in a wide range of topics for an 11 year old child: The latest elections, history, law and activism. She believed in accepting all humans, said her mother.
And sometimes, she noticed nuances on TV shows even before her mom.
“I just felt like she was turning a big corner in life when it came to, like, character development,” said Nguyen. “I knew that she would be this incredible human being who would contribute so much to the world and I feel not only a sense of loss for my daughter, but a sense of loss for the world and for society that she didn’t have a chance to do anything meaningful. with your life. “
The young man was already taking care of the others.
She baked cinnamon rolls for Santa on Christmas Eve, operating on the logic – since Olivia was 4 – that the old man might be tired of eating cookies. In addition, it could help make your home a memorable stop for him.
An adventurous eater, Olivia spoke at one point in perhaps becoming a food critic or traveling the world for a TV show. Almost two weeks ago, for her mother’s birthday, she tried to make a fried egg sandwich for breakfast.
Meanwhile, Edison, “sandwiched right in the middle of two girls”, as Nguyen said, did not appear to suffer from any middle child syndrome. Being the only boy in the house represented a kind of fame, said Nguyen.
Active, he and Nguyen started running together last year. He also learned to ride a bicycle on two wheels.
He was moderately autistic and loved arts and crafts, said Nguyen. He drew his family, as well as abstract art. A kind of obsessive personality guided his passions. If a line in a drawing didn’t go as he wanted, he would tear it up and try again, said his mother. He totally immersed himself in his interest du jour.
In a period of months, art and architecture captivated his curiosity. Anyone he encountered would be greeted with a battery of questions, Nguyen said.
Do you like modern art?
what kind of art do you like?
What kind of home do you like?
I like houses with natural light. Do you like houses with natural light?
“He was super smart,” said Nguyen. “I was just thirsty for knowledge.”
Although watching television or movies with him could be a little irritating for his sisters with an insatiable thirst.
And Colette, the youngest, would talk to anyone who got engaged, Nguyen said. She loved to sing and perform for others.
His charisma extended beyond his years. And being the youngest, she refused to be bullied.
“People just loved her,” said Nguyen. “I was sure that she would also do something incredible with herself.”
And she loved the others back.
When the family got a golden doodle near the parties, Colette was excited to serve as an older sister. She fed the dog and tried to carry the fast-growing puppy as much as she could. Sometimes, maybe when she tired everyone in the house to talk, Nguyen speculated, she turned to her new, furry younger relative.
“Give commands to the dog or just sit there and pet it,” said Nguyen. “Literally telling him about her day.”
Sometimes, his only spectator was his grandmother, Le.
Le was a refugee from Vietnam who first moved with Nguyen’s father to Kansas and then to California before settling in the Houston area in 1994. She loved her three children and helped Nguyen have a career helping with them, she said.
She picked up the kids at school or shopped at the market and spent time with the three of them. Olivia would ask about life in Vietnam. Edison was going to show her his drawings. And Colette offered entertainment. Nguyen said his father died 8 years ago, which was a tremendous loss for Le. But the children helped.
“She loved my children very much. So much, ”said Nguyen. “She loved all their art. She loved everything they did. She kept everything. “
Nguyen hopes to complete an MBA program at Rice University this spring. She credited her mother’s help for letting her progress in her career. Since the fire, his community in Rice has launched an online fundraiser for Nguyen and the children’s father, Nathan. Nguyen said he hopes to use the money to honor his children, whether starting a foundation or making contributions to existing charities.
People’s gestures helped, said Nguyen.
“You feel like you’re drowning and like you can’t breathe,” said Nguyen. But the actions of those who helped – even the kind words here and there – were like taking a deep breath. “It does speak, honestly, as the heart of Houston – our capacity for community mobilization and unity.”
On Valentine’s Day, when the winter storm approached the Houston area, Nguyen and the children watched the Titanic. Olivia was hating the movie after reading a few things about it online. Nguyen wanted to prove that it was an “incredible” film.
They had to stop the film several times while Edison questioned holes in the plot that Nguyen had never even thought of.
And why is a ship maneuvered in one way or another?
“Can you just watch?” Nguyen remembered his sisters asking back, “Can we just watch?”
He refrained from probing too much, said Nguyen, and they finished watching. Everyone loved the movie.
The next day, Le, without power since he woke up, went early. She spent the day at the house, which still had energy, with the children and Nguyen.
Around 5 pm, they lost energy there too.
“I told everyone that they had to preserve the battery of their devices,” said Nguyen. “We wanted to have some means of communication.”
Olivia had a scheduled call to Zoom with friends from a summer camp she went to in upstate New York.
She could use battery power, she begged.
Yes, Nguyen told her.
They burned the fireplace to help keep warm and stayed together, spending quality time.
Time, said Nguyen, they valued.
As the hours went by and the children tried to teach their grandmother a card game, everyone got tired.
Eventually, they all went to sleep.