CONWAY -- Windsor Green fire victims were allowed to search Thursday for any memories in the rubble of what's left of their condominiums after Saturday's fire.
"You go to work on a Saturday morning and you got the world in your pocket and you come back and all you got's a pair of shoes, a pair of pants and a shirt left to your name," said resident Vernon Johns. "I don't think I've gotten over the shock yet."
Johns was working his part-time job at a golf course when his home at Windsor Green caught fire.
"You couldn't ask for a nicer neighborhood. Neighbors are tremendous and I just loved my little castle here, it was everything a man could want," he said.
So far, he hasn't found much under the ashes, just a few coins from his coin collection.
"When I found some of the quarters, I thought I hit the jackpot," he said.
Everything else from his past is gone, including the memories of his wife, who died of pancreatic cancer last April.
"Scrapbooks, family pictures, everything that a man would need, I had it, so it's just devastating," said Johns.
For now, Vernon is staying with friends, not the way this retired firefighter thought he would end up.
Vernon also owned a cat with yellow and brown stripes that he called Tiger.
He said he let him out Saturday morning before the fire and hopes he is OK, wherever he might be.
