Fire made her longtime family home unlivable. She’s 84 and can’t afford to rebuild.
Juanita Williams lived in a vibrant blue house in Homestead for more than seven decades. Then on Jan. 16, 2017, she discovered a leaky pipe and called a plumber. He lit a blowtorch to make the repair. A fire started in the kitchen, spread to her bedroom and charred the house.
She hasn’t been able to live there since.
“We lost a whole lot of stuff,” the 84-year-old sighed. “The fire was going too fast, and it was hard for me to get out of the house. I just got what I could get.”
These days, bills are piling up and the retired cafeteria worker struggles to get around after hurting her hip. She has no dependable transportation and — while stuck in an apartment far from her home — she pines for the familiar stomping ground of her youth.
Williams was born in 1937 in Florida City, the ninth of 11 children. Her uncle, George Williams, built the 1,400-square-foot home in an open field at the corner of Southwest Third Avenue and Seventh Street.
After the house was completed in 1949, she moved in with her sister, Mildred.
She attended school only up to seventh grade. At age 15 she married, and her first son, James Edward Williams, was born. She lived with her husband and son for years before Chris came along in 1967.
Of his youth, Chris Williams recalls, “It was a family house, we just always had good times in that house. Whenever there was something going on, they would always come to our house. Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays, everything like that.”
Juanita got a job at Neva King Cooper Educational Center as a cafeteria worker in 1965 and spent most of her working years there. She was later offered a supervisor position, but was unable to accept since she couldn’t complete the paperwork due to her lack of education. She then became a bus monitor, but didn’t work for long because she had to get hip surgery, which made it difficult for her to climb the steps on the bus. She retired in July 1997.
By then, she had divorced her husband, who then died in the early 1970s.
In the years that followed retirement, Williams spent her days at home with her family, taking care of her son James Edward, who had fallen ill after a stroke. She regularly attended Greater New Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church in Homestead.
Then in 2017, Chris noticed the leaky pipe before heading to work. Williams called a plumber she had hired twice before. Chris didn’t trust the guy. “I caught him using a torch one time and I was like, ‘Don’t use no torch in here no more because this is a wood frame house,’” he recalls.
The plumber ignored his wishes and used a blowtorch to fix the pipe. Juanita remembers that she and James Edward saw smoke and ran from the house.
Chris had just left work when he got a call about the burning house. He rode his bike home as fast as he could. “I saw the firetrucks and I was like, ‘Oh my god,’” he said. “I cried.”
People who were nearby helped the family take out the few things that could be saved.
“All my stuff in the kitchen…” Juanita recalled, trailing off.
Williams and her sons moved to a hotel near Palm Drive after the fire, which was caused by crossed wires. The plumber was fined $150 for plumbing work without a license, but otherwise got off scot-free.
On April 2, 2019, James Edward died after a series of strokes. Chris now takes care of Juanita while working at a Texas Roadhouse in food prep and as a dishwasher. She mostly sits in her low-lit apartment in Keys Cove hoping to return to her home, which is more than an hour’s walk away. She has no car and uses a cane.
“I miss everything,” she says. ““It’s so inconvenient out here. I can’t get a ride. I have to wait for somebody to come take me to the store. Sometimes I don’t even have anything to pay with at the store because of all these bills.”
“She’s so concerned about getting back in that area because she’s so far that she can’t even go to church,” Ulysses Harris, her cousin, says.
Williams still attends church when she can, but it is an hour’s walk from her current place. Chris drives her to mass when he is not working.
As for her house, she had no insurance and can’t afford the repairs. Chris helps out with utilities in the apartment and Harris chips in when he can.
“She was really concerned about her taxes so I helped her pay her taxes this year,” said Harris. “We try to help her with her light bill, but it’s heavy with her rent.”
Juanita was nominated for Wish Book by Eric Fryar from the Concerned & Committed Brothers of The Community, a nonprofit organization.
“I heard her story last year,” Fryar said. “I know she’s a pillar in her family, she does serious work in her church and has done it for years. She’s just a good person with a good heart who needs a helping hand right now.”
Juanita would appreciate any sort of help such as financial assistance to restore the house or donated repair services to make it livable again.
How to help
To help this nominee and 150 others who are in need this year:
▪ To donate, use the coupon found in the newspaper or pay securely online through www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook
▪ For more information, call 305-376-2906 or emailWishbook@MiamiHerald.com
▪ The most requested items are often laptops and tablets for school, furniture, and accessible vans
▪ Read all Wish Book stories on www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook
This story was produced in conjunction with FIU’s South Florida Media Network
This story was originally published December 9, 2021 at 6:30 AM.