OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) – A family in California started their Christmas Day mourning a tremendous loss.
Steven Weatherford, 37, died trying to save his family from their burning house – and while trying to salvage the engagement ring he was planning on proposing to his girlfriend with.
Lashante Mayo, Weatherford’s girlfriend, said she just learned on Christmas morning that he was planning to propose on New Year’s Eve.
“Steven was truly the best person you could ever meet,” she said. “He loved his family, his friends, everybody so much. He died trying to get them out of the house. And he succeeded. I loved him so much.”
Weatherford’s aunt Eunice Smith said for generations, the family would host big holidays like Christmas at their family home. She said Weatherford was sleeping on the couch when the fire broke out.
“He was trying to save everybody, make sure everybody was out of the house. He may not have known they all went out the back,” Smith said. “And my other nephew was calling for him because they were all in the back, and they were calling, ‘Steven! Steven! Come out! Come out!’ and they heard him screaming. And he never made it out.”
The Oakland Fire Department said the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but firefighters got a call around 6:15 a.m. Wednesday for a house fire.
When crews arrived, they found Weatherford’s body inside the home. They believe he was likely overcome and disoriented by the smoke.
“I know he is looking down on us right now. I don’t know what else to say. I just wish he was here right now,” Mayo said.
Mayo’s mother, Sandra Clark, also had high praise for her soon-to-be son-in-law.
“When I meet him, I said, ‘That’s the one. That’s the one.’ Her father and I, we just loved him so much. And he loved her [my daughter] so much,” Clark said. “And I found out he was going to propose to her. He had bought the ring. He didn’t get a chance to give it to her. But it is in the house, and we are going to find it.”
Weatherford’s entire family will always remember him as a hero.
“He was a good person. He was a good family man,” Smith said. “He saved his family. He saved four people in that house. He woke them up and he saved them, and he went back I guess because he wasn’t sure that everybody was out of the house. So yes, he was a hero.”
Neighbors have set up a GoFundMe page to help the family.
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