Modesto duplex fire takes the life of 76-year-old woman
A fire Tuesday morning at a Modesto duplex claimed the life of a 76-year-old remembered by her daughter as a woman who helped other single moms and was a hardcore Giants fan and lover of vanilla milkshakes.
Though fire in the 2000 block of Celeste Drive was contained to the woman’s unit, it also displaced two men: the woman’s longtime friend and roommate and the landlord who lived in the other unit. The fire’s cause remains under investigation.
The Stanislaus County Coroner’s Office identified the woman as Gail Dodd. She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
“I talked to her every day multiple times on the phone,” said Dodd’s daughter, Castro Valley resident Kimberlee Garcia, on Wednesday. “She always wanted to tell everyone how much she loved us. I can’t believe she is gone.”
Firefighters responded at 10:55 a.m. to a report of smoke, according to a news release. A Stanislaus Regional Fire Investigation Unit investigator who was in the area spotted the duplex “with significant smoke and fire showing from one of the two units,” according to the release.
Bystanders told the investigator Dodd was unaccounted for, according to the release. Arriving firefighters “performed an aggressive interior fire attack and search inside the residence. Firefighters quickly located and removed one person from the duplex.”
Five engines and one truck responded to the fire.
Garcia said her mom used a walker and was home alone at the time. Her mom’s friend and roommate, Ken Ronning, had gone out on an errand, Garcia said. “All we know is she called him and the phone cut off,” she said. “... We’re waiting for the investigation to determine the cause.”
Garcia said her mom did not smoke and no longer cooked.
“They had such a great friendship,” she said about her mother and Ronning. “They’d go get milkshakes — that was her favorite thing. She loved vanilla milkshakes. And she was a hardcore Giants fan. Her and her vanilla milkshakes, she was getting them from everyone.”
Garcia, 39, said her mom had lived in the duplex for about eight years after retiring and moving to Modesto from the Bay Area. She said Ronning had rented the other half of the duplex unit about a couple of years ago when their landlord decided to move into it. Garcia said Ronning and her mom then became roommates.
Garcia said her mom worked at many jobs, including for an ambulance company and as in-home caregiver, before retiring. Her mom helped others and loved learning about other cultures, which included having a foreign exchange student from Japan live with the family for a couple of years, Garcia said.
“Growing up, my mom was a single mom for many years,” she said, recounting her childhood. “She helped other single moms” who were friends or attended her church. Garcia said that included letting them and their children live with Dodd and her children as they got back on their feet. “She helped with whatever they needed. ... She loved God.”
Garcia said her mother’s survivors include her sons, Modesto residents Richard and Roy Broadbent, as well as 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
