Osburn replaces what fire could not destroy

A fire may have left him and his family homeless, but he still has one thing no one and no thing can take away.

An education.

On Nov. 1, 2011, a devastating early morning blaze consumed the Carrabelle mobile home where Nelson and Alisha Woods, and their four children were living. Alisha’s best friend Brandy Osburn, and her husband Travis, who were staying with the Woods family, also lost their possessions in the fire. No one was hurt.

But among the Osburn’s possessions, one thing especially was missing: A copy of Travis’s certification for completing a 250-hour emergency medical technician course that May.

He had been the first recipient of a newly-created Weems Memorial Hospital scholarship to the program to have completed the necessary testing.

In fact, he passed the national certification exam Nov. 4, just three days after the devastating fire. His laptop had been destroyed, but he managed to continue to study for the test at the Carrabelle library. Despite all the stress of the catastrophe, Travis passed, the last step in a process that had him commuting to Panama City three days a week, sometimes staying overnight in Bay County in his vehicle to save on the cost of commuting.

“It became very personal to me, to do the best I could,” said Travis. “The hospital put faith in me, and their time and money, to do a job.”

But even with his success, the fire had consumed the one visible symbol of his accomplishment, so Travis turned to Eastpoint’s Denise Butler, chair of the Gulf Coast State College’s board of trustees, to see about getting it replaced.

Last month, she presented him with a framed copy of his certificate. Something he could he hang on the wall of the family’s new residence in Apalachicola.

Travis is working part-time at Weems, soon to be full-time, as he fulfills the commitment he made when he accepted the scholarship.

“I love what I’m doing,” he said. “It’s more personal to me now, I have a new outlook on things. To see someone’s loss in a fire, I can definitely relate. My personal feelings are more heartfelt.”

Travis and Brandy are rebuilding their lives, with the help of an enormous effort put out by the Franklin County Schools for both the Woods and Osburn families. Plus members of the community have stepped forward, with everything from food and clothes, to dishes and furniture.

One woman invited the Osburns to come by and pick what they needed from a cache of donated belongings. “She said ‘Somebody needed help, she had it and it was ours to take,’” said Travis.

A former Army veteran and Alaskan fisherman, Osburn said he feels strongly that he is back in his native county for a reason. “I’ve been all over the world, but I keep coming back home for a reason, to preserve what I grew up with, and to take care of the people in it,” he said.

One thing not consumed by the blaze was the Osburn’s family Bible, a camouflage-style volume whose cover was burned off and the edges of the pages singed.

“It was burned to a crisp but you can still read every word of it,” Travis said. “That’s our testimony: The Bible.”