Alva Review-Courier -

On March 22, 2016, the Anderson Creek Fire ignited into a destructive force and burned over 390,000 farming acres in northwestern Oklahoma and Kansas. The fire started about 25 miles west of Alva and 5 miles northeast of the Town of Freedom at a rest area across from the Stansberrys' home and carved a path of destruction northeast crossing into Kansas.

According to wildfiretoday.com, there were no human deaths but 600 cattle were claimed by the fires. At least 16 homes and 26 structures were lost. One of those structures lost was a shed – to the naked eye a shed, but to the owner more of a treasure trove. Within the four walls were housed many treasures that can't be replaced.

Reia Lenhart knows it could have been a lot worse. The day of the fire Don and Reia evacuated and came into the town of Freedom, staying with family. The next evening Don went home thinking the danger was gone. Reia, being the more cautious of the two, stayed another night with family. That evening at home Don watched the Thunder play into the night and then went to bed and fell asleep.

At 2:30 a.m. Freedom Fire Chief Pebbles Luddington called Reia to report the fire was heading straight for their property and they should be somewhere safe. Reia, concerned for Don's safety, frantically told Pebbles that she was safe (in town) but Don was at the house. Pebbles told her she'd see what she could do.

Pebbles called a fellow firefighter, Landen Brady of the Greenleaf Fire Crew, and asked if he could get to the house and warn Don and to evacuate. Landen said he would and drove toward the Lenhart home in the Greenleaf fire truck.

Once at the home, Brady approached the door and called out and pounded on the wooden door but could not get any response. Brady did not stop there; he went to the fire rig and laid on the horn and sirens. The noise awoke Don and he was able to drive to safety.

However, the fire continued raging.

With the help and efforts of the brave firemen and firewomen, the flames cut a path right behind the Lenhart home, missing the house, the large barn and the granary. However, the blaze took the storage building that was housing treasures from past generations for the future Lenhart generations.

Reia feels sadness when she thinks of her mother's and grandmother's sets of dishes, an antique sewing machine and a dresser that had been in the family for years. She also had a cradle that each of her daughters had used for their children. That tradition is now ended.

Reia's daughter, Melissa Headlee, had stored her Freedom Rodeo Queen saddle and sash there, won in 1993. Her other daughters, Stephnie Gillenwaters and Teresa Wares, stored furniture that they hoped to use in the future. The storage building and all its contents were a total loss.

Today, after a year, Reia has started a new chapter. Once where a building stood full of memories a new building stands. And as irony would have it, the building is a place where Reia can help make memories for others.

The Lenharts have replaced the ashes with a 20 x 60 one-room shop, and Reia bought a Gammill quilting machine. Her business is notably called "Cowgirl Tuff Quilting."

The ashes were all that was left of the Lenhart's stored treasures. The building that used to stand near the Lenharts' home was a total loss.

Why "cowgirl tuff?" Reia was raised riding horses and chasing livestock. She was raised a cowgirl; she was raised by the creed that "when trouble knocks you down, you get right back up and keep on trying," she said. Thus, "Cowgirl Tuff" it is.

Quilting is a new skill for Reia but she has been sewing since she was a child. She always had a knack for it. Quilting was something she always wanted to try. "My grandmother, Mabel McCleery, said never say 'I can't'," she said. "It is like a new adventure and it challenges me."

Reia has had to travel many hours and hundreds of miles from home to learn how to use the Gammill. "I've had to take classes on how to use the technology, which can be overwhelming at times," she said. "But once you catch onto it and practice it and realize you're always going to be learning, it can be very satisfying."

Reia is open for business and if someone wants to talk about quilting her door is open.

So, even though the Lenharts may have lost precious treasures to the ashes, they live on to make more memories.