Phyllis Fabbi lost her home on Denman Island on May 12 to a fire that took the building down to ashes.
The home was lovingly built by hand by Fabbi and her husband in the 1970s and several generations have called the house home over the years.
“The house was really special to Grandma, she moved to Denman with my Grandpa and three kids. They bought the land in ‘75 and started building in ‘76. They lived in a little trailer and built what we call the studio, a little cabin behind the house - just like a very small one bedroom loft building. The five of them lived there while they built the house,” said Emma Prud'homme O'Neill, Fabbi’s granddaughter.
The home was built from reclaimed materials while the couple taught themselves how to build along the way.
“The cupboards that are still in the studio today, those were sort of her first drawers and cupboards that she ever built. They’re a bit wonky but it set her up for doing the kitchen. Everything from the beams, my Grandpa would go down to the beach - there used to be more driftwood then, and he found some of the beams that go in the main house.”
The couple used various reclaimed materials and found materials to build this special home for their family.
“The stairs in the house were made from old railway bridge ties that they got,” shared Prud'homme O'Neill. “The windows that are in the studio are still the original. They are old car windows from my great uncle’s car wrecker in the Okanagan. They used a bunch of car windows. It had a really special handmade, one of a kind feeling. It was really special.”
While Denman Island was not where Fabbi grew up, but when she first came to the island, it felt like she was coming home.
“They took a vacation to the island, and she talks about them driving off the ferry for the first time and it was a feeling of coming home.”
Fabbi carved out a special life for herself and her family on Denman Island.
“She worked at the bottle depot for years, she volunteered at the free store for years and years. And then she was a craftsperson. She taught herself how to do pottery, how to weave baskets and she wove on the loom. She worked at the craft shop for a really long time, since its conception.”
As an avid crafter and environmentalist, Fabbi held on to everything to reuse it in new crafts or projects.
“She’s always had what we called a rag room in her house. Her friends and people in the community, and I think she saved stuff from the free store over the years, when people donated their old ragged clothes. She rolls them all up and she has this huge shelving unit in one of the spare rooms with all of these rags. It is bundled up very nicely in colour coordinated groups. Recently she’s started braiding rugs with them.”
Of course all these materials are gone now, including a collection of vintage clothing labels that Fabbi had collected over the years from every piece of clothing she took apart and repurposed.
“My mom used to give her a hard time about (the labels) that when (Fabbi) passed, she would have to deal with all of that. Now, my mom no longer has to deal with these labels. But it was one of the things I was most upset about losing,” shared Prud'homme O'Neill.
While the main house has been reduced to rubble, the studio still stands at the back of the property. It is without heat, running water or a bathroom though, making it unlivable in its current condition.
The hope is that with the GoFundMe money, the family can make the studio in the backyard livable for Fabbi while her main house is rebuilt.
“It doesn’t have a water, heat source, kitchen or bathroom. We’re still trying to figure out if we might end up building a separate small outbuilding as a bathroom and laundry or we might make an addition to the studio. We just want to get the studio livable so (Fabbi) can be back on her land.”
The initial goal of the GoFundMe was $22,000 but the family is hoping to raise more to do a complete job on the outfitting of the studio and start the rebuilding process.
“We are hoping for $50,000 — that’s kind of our big goal. We could do all that we need to do, comfortably and as quickly as possible.”
The current total of raised funds on the GoFundMe is approximately $13,000. The family is thankful for all the funds that have been raised in such a short amount of time.
To learn more about the GoFundMe or donate, visit .
