BROKEN ARROW, Okla. -- A beloved grandmother lost her life during a house fire on New Year's Eve.
Shelly Mayor died when a fire destroyed her daughter's house near 96th Street and County Line Road in Broken Arrow.
"Not only did we lose everything that we owned," Meshel Heffner said, "but we also lost my mother."
Heffner said her mother agreed to watch her pets Sunday, while she and her husband went to Guthrie to celebrate the new year. The couple, however, rushed back when they got a distressing call from Broken Arrow firefighters that their home was burning.
Heffner hoped that her mother made it out alive, but firefighters found her body hours later in the burned rubble.
"She was an awesome person. She was funny (and) a little rotten at times," Heffner said about her mother. "She was my favorite person. She was my best friend. She was my go-to if anything bad happened, if anything funny happened."
The fire also killed Heffner's two dogs and four cats. Her family only has the clothes on their backs after they lost all their belongings, too.
"You don't expect your house to burn down, let alone to lose somebody in that house fire," Heffner said. "It just makes it so much worse."
Other family members, friends and neighbors are now raising money to help the family rebuild their lives and replace all the belongings they lost.
Broken Arrow firefighters are also investigating the cause of the fire, which remains unknown at this point.
Heffner said she is trying to remain positive and hold onto the memories of her mother from a better time.
"You can't get stuck in the past," Heffner said. "You've got to move forward. You've got to move forward."
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