by SUSAN YOUNGER
Staff Reporter

Lapeer, MI. 03/20/07. In only moments, a family's dream and a historic train depot turned to ashes. Sue Roehl and her children could only watch Tuesday afternoon as the Carpenter Road home she and husband Don were restoring was consumed by flames.

"It's gone, and we're very sad," said Sue Roehl. "We loved the house. The first time I saw it, it was like coming home."

Problems began about 2:45 p.m. after Roehl had stopped over to her parent's house next door to collect her children.

"We came back home for just a moment and that's when we heard the fire alarm," said Roehl. "It looked as though the fire was small and I ran back and asked my dad for a fire extinguisher."

But the flames were out of control only seconds later when Jerry Wexelberg, Roehl's father, came back to help.

"They called 911 and by the time I arrived, the house was filled with smoke and the west end was fully involved," said Lapeer City Fire & Rescue assistant fire chief Jim Muxlow.
Columbiaville, Deerfield and Elba fire departments assisted Lapeer, said Muxlow, the incident commander. About 30 firefighters battled for almost four hours but were unable to save the home.

"Everything is destroyed," said Muxlow. "That fire had a good start on us."
This is the second time fire has destroyed the historical railroad structure known as the

Carpenter Station. The railway station was first built in the mid 1800s, and burned down by Native Americans, said Roehl.

"They rebuilt the depot in the later 1800s, and Samuel Carpenter used it as his house," said Roehl. "He had a mill across the street and the train would come and pick up the lumber."

The old track path is still visible though trains ceased running in front of the Carpenter Depot about 1958. The depot exchanged hands only a few times before the Roehl family decided to call it home. They purchased it about four years ago from the Collins family who had owned it 50 years.

"We were looking to get our hands dirty," said Roehl. "When we pulled up and saw it, we knew we wanted to live here."

Over the years, the couple turned the almost unlivable house into their home. They made cosmetic improvements, updated the wiring and plumbing, and put in new ceilings. A garage was transformed into a family room and they added a wrap-around porch.

"It wasn't an all consuming project," said Roehl. "We lived there; it was our home. It was a beautiful home, with warmth of its own the way it was."

The cause of the fire is undetermined and under investigation. The family still doesn't know the whereabouts of their black and white cat.

"He is an outside cat that lives in our barn," said Roehl. "But lately he's been trying to become an indoor cat. We're hoping he didn't sneak inside, and that he's just hiding somewhere scared."

Friends, neighbors and caring strangers have been helping the Roehls. The house was insured.

"We are so fortunate, and blessed," said Roehl. "People have just been coming up to us and handing us clothes and things. We are blessed."