As the Mountain fire blazed up a Camarillo hillside on Wednesday, Nov. 6, the Parish family lost not only their house, but also a community gathering space and a testament to their own hard work.
In 1998, Fawn and Joey Parish built their home on West Highland Drive with the help of their friends. With unobstructed views of the Conejo Grade and the Channel Islands, and beyond being a residence for Fawn and Joey and their son, the house became a gathering place for their tight-knit community, especially for international students at California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI).
Not only did the home itself, built with the couple’s own hands, hold significance for them, so did the land it sat on.
“My mom walked up that hill in 1956, pregnant with me, and found a house for sale for $13,500 and my grandfather bought it. So I am third generation on that land,” Fawn Parish said. “I could point to any part of that house and say, ‘so and so pulled the electricity there’ or ‘so and so did this.’ There’s a lot of beautiful story to that house.”
Fawn, 68, and Joey, 72, heard about the fire from a neighbor and carefully monitored evacuation orders. Fawn recalled feeling like she was going to have to evacuate, even as she heard that the smoke in her area was from a fire in Moorpark, not their immediate area.
She encouraged her neighbors to evacuate when she heard that Camarillo Heights, their area, may be in danger. When it came time to leave, Fawn and Joey left their property with only their cat and a computer, experiencing difficulties driving down the hill, which is accessible by only two lanes – one for driving up and one for driving down.
As they stood in front of the rubble of their home on Friday, with its protruding beams and pieces of rock and metal piled up, the couple recalled the closeness of the community they shared in their hilly neighborhood.
The Parishes hosted a yearly Christmas dessert exchange in their neighborhood, at one point ran a religious school out of the house and invited international students from CSUCI into their home for dinner to experience an American household. The second floor of the home was used as the gathering place, as it had a sprawling deck and the best view.
Showing students from all over the world what an American home is like was the couple’s passion.
“I had read a book a long time ago about international students and how little they get to see an American home,” Fawn said, “At that time, like 95% were never invited into an American home. We just had one son, so we didn’t need to build a house that large, but it was in our hearts to really make it a place of blessing and a place of beauty.”
Fawn estimates that over the years thousands of students came through the Camarillo home’s doors, to share dinner, discuss their cultures, witness the views of Ventura County and meet new people. As the couple thinks about the future and rebuilding, having a space to continue these programs is at the top of their minds.
Fawn has authored a number of books for adults, but decided to venture into children’s books after she was inspired by a phrase.
“Many years ago, I heard the phrase, ‘There’s no spot where God is not and I thought somebody should do a kid’s book about that,’ ” Fawn said.
Now 3,000 copies of her children’s book, stored in the couple’s garage, were among the treasures lost in the fire.
Amongst the remnants of the house were pages of the books, with illustrations of animals and words such as “God,” “true” and “see” still readable on the scattered, charred pages that sat between nails and other burnt pieces of the home.
“They’re all burned, but they’re like little love notes on the property,” Fawn said of the remaining pages.
Fawn and Joey plan to rebuild on their land. Fawn encourages those who also lost their homes in the fire to remember that they will rebuild, too.
And she is thankful that she was able to safely evacuate with her husband.
“Material things always turn to ashes at some point,” Fawn said. “And the real thing, the important thing, is love and people. And the eternal things are people and how well we love.”
Dean Musgrove contributed to this report.
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