After losing everything but his most faithful companion to a fire in Greenbank last month, good fortune may finally be blowing Dan Weehunt’s way.
On Monday, he returned to the location where his newly purchased motor home and car were incinerated in an early morning fire, Sept. 15. But instead of being greeted solely by their burned-out shells, Weehunt got an unexpected surprise. An old friend with a big gift and an even bigger heart was waiting for him.
“I gave him the van that burned down so I thought I might was well give him my other old car too,” said Maureen Constantine-Lett, a Clinton resident.
While not exactly sparkling, parked in the grass was a perfectly serviceable 1987 Pontiac 6000 sedan. Like the 1994 Dodge minivan she gave him several years before when they were neighbors in Clinton, Constantine-Lett said it now belongs to Weehunt free and clear.
The former longtime Nichol’s Brothers Boat Builders employee was moved. Having someone give you a car for free once is as impressive as it is unlikely. But for the same person to do so twice was entirely unexpected.
“Now she’s giving me another car,” said Weehunt, with one of the first smiles he’s donned in weeks. “Hopefully this one doesn’t burn up.”
The van was parked next to the motor home when it caught fire. It, along with just about everything he owns, was destroyed. He had only just purchased the motor home and was in the process of fixing it up so he could visit family in Oregon. His dog Little Miss, some tools, and amazingly his wallet, were all that survived.
A story that documented the fire and Weehunt’s loss ran in the Whidbey News-Times and appeared on the South Whidbey Record’s website. Ever since, people from as far away as Utah have warmed to his situation. Not counting the value of the car, he’s received about $1,000 in donations.
The generosity of the community has been astonishing, Weehunt said. A week ago, he was at Walmart trying to buy new clothes with a credit card provided by the Whidbey chapter of the Red Cross. When the card wouldn’t work, the cashier pulled out his own money and paid for the items himself.
“It blew me away,” Weehunt said. “I asked him why he did it and he said,’Because I can’.”
Constantine-Lett also learned of the disastrous fire that claimed so much from Weehunt from the news stories. She knew right away that the car should go to him. It wasn’t being used and this was a chance to repay the charity the community provided her family when her husband became ill about five years from his exposure to Agent Orange in the Vietnam War.
“It only seemed fair to put it back in,” Constantine-Lett said.
Donations are continuing to be collected. Checks can be made out to Dan Weehunt, and mailed to, or dropped off in person, at 916 Cuthbert Drive, Greenbank, 98253-6016.
