Relatives and Friends Share Their Special Memories of Fire Victims

As mourners blew bubbles Wednesday, Melodie Ybarra eulogized the husband and three sons she lost last week in a house fire in Placentia, then sang in the sign language that had been her special way of talking to them.

During a 2 1/2-hour funeral Mass that drew 700 mourners to St. Joseph Catholic Church in Placentia, Ybarra signed the words of “Wind Beneath My Wings” as the Bette Midler recording played. It was her final message to her husband and boys.

Relatives said that although no one in the family was hearing-impaired, the 36-year-old wife and mother often used American Sign Language to deliver special messages.

Donald Ybarra, 39, and the couple’s three boys--Brandon, 7, Connor, 4, and Jacob, 2--died as flames engulfed their Placentia home last week.

Neighbors and firefighters unsuccessfully tried to rescue them. Melodie Ybarra escaped with second-degree burns.

Ybarra told neighbors she and her husband tried to climb the stairs to their boys’ second-floor bedrooms. She was chased back by flames and ran to a neighbor’s home for help.

The only smoke alarm in the house had been removed.

During the service Wednesday, many speakers described Donald Ybarra as a child trapped in the body of a man.

Neighbors remembered Donald coming by on his children’s scooters or bikes.

Neighborhood children would ring the bell looking to play with him, not her sons, Melodie Ybarra said.

His sister Maria Elena Ethington said Donald Ybarra was the favorite uncle in their tight-knit family, “who had one [child] hanging on each arm and one pulling on each leg.”

“People were what was most important to Donald,” Ethington said. “Everyone depended on Donald. He took what was given to him and made it better.”

Relatives said Melodie Ybarra has been comforting them through the recent, painful days.

“She’s helping us through this,” said Ybarra’s brother Michael Marek, who also spoke at the Mass.

Marek said one of his sister’s first tasks after the deaths was a visit to her eldest son’s school to talk with his friends and classmates.

After Marek spoke, the mourners whispered in surprise as Ybarra came to the podium, stopping for a moment to collect herself, before turning to the pews with a smile.

She invited the children to stretch their legs, because the service was so long.

She also had arranged for the children to receive small goody bags that included tiny jars of bubble solution, Pokemon cards and candy. Adults blew the bubbles as the two caskets were taken away--one with two boys inside, another with Donald and one son inside.

After the Mass, the caskets were buried at Loma Vista Cemetery in Fullerton as 50 doves were released into the sky.

During the Mass, relatives and friends described how the Ybarras considered each moment of life a special event, making simple pleasures extravagant, from barbecues on summer evenings to hot chocolate on rainy afternoons.

Even the children’s vaccinations were considered important moments that Donald Ybarra made sure to attend. Not to mention the time he skipped work to make a surprise appearance at Brandon’s first field trip at school.

In the hours before the fire last week, the family spent a quiet night at home, eating burgers Donald had brought home from In-N-Out and videotaping the children making a pretend train from a laundry basket. “We were married for 10 years,” Melodie Ybarra said Wednesday. “It was so easy.”