Two weeks after they sang the Regina Caeli at the site of their burned-down home in Los Angeles County to a much bigger audience than they anticipated, the Halpin family is still dealing with loss and the realities associated with not having the family homestead anymore.

Their home in Altadena is one of more than 15,000 structures that have been destroyed in the wildfires in Southern California since the wildfires began earlier this month. But it has gotten more notice than most — because of a memorable video of the family singing in harmony a 12th-century hymn to Mary as “Queen of Heaven” that went viral.

For Jacqueline Halpin, 64, losing almost everything has been a lesson in gratitude. In the middle of the night, she told the Register, she wakes up in Pasadena and thinks of yet another reason to be thankful.

Chief among them is that she, her husband Peter, 65, and their six adult children and extended family are all well. Twenty-eight people have died in the fires so far.

But here’s another one: Some things survived the fire because they weren’t in the house, including her great-aunt’s china cabinet, which she had given to one of her sons, and her grandmother’s ring, which she had given to one of her daughters.

“This I thought was really profound, at least for me. Everything that I had given away still exists,” Halpin told the Register. “So in a way, it’s comforting — you know, like maybe that’s a really important lesson of detachment.”

She’s grateful for the national novena for the fire victims that started on Jan. 24, which the Register described in a story published Thursday — the inspiration of two friends from her parish, St. Andrew’s in Pasadena.

She’s also grateful for the thoughts of gratitude that keep coming to her.

“I feel like I have to grab my little bits of joy, you know, and I’m happy I’m listening,” she said.

 

Outpouring of Support — but the Need Is So Great

She’s also grateful for the outpouring of donations her family has received through a GoFundMe page, which has raised more than $147,000 as of Friday morning.

If that sounds like a lot of money, though, consider their losses.

Yes, they had homeowner’s insurance, which should cover at least a significant portion of the cost of replacing their four-bedroom bungalow.

But a separate structure at the back of the lot — a small two-bedroom home built shortly after World War II — did not conform to local zoning rules that were enacted after it was built (the technical term is “preexisting nonconforming use”), which made it uninsurable. Her daughter Gianna and Gianna’s 1 1/2-year-old daughter Beatrice were living there. So replacing that house will come out of pocket.

Also consider that like a lot of people in Southern California, they’ve been told that it might take them three to four years to rebuild their home. Her husband is a contractor who owns a concrete business and is chomping at the bit — he has already cut down some trees on the property — but the insurance company says processing claims and going through permitting will take a long time.

And in the meantime?

“We have incredible friends, Catholic community friends, who have been putting us up, and we’re actually going to another Catholic couple’s back house in about a week, and that’s kind of open-ended. So, I mean, we could stay there for several months, which is just so generous and great,” Halpin said. “But at some point, we’re going to need a place to live while we rebuild.”

 

Caught by Surprise

One of the reasons the Halpins have very little left is that, like a lot of people, they thought they’d be returning to an intact house.

The Southern California wildfires have various names, stemming from where they started. The day the Eaton Fire began, the Halpins first lost electricity because strong winds brought power lines down. So they went out to eat at Denny’s.

On the way back home, Peter saw a flash, which he thinks in retrospect might have been the beginning of the fire.

Around 8 p.m., they evacuated. But they didn’t expect the fire to travel as far as it did. So when their home burned to the ground around 4:30 the next morning, they were not only devastated, but also shocked.

A post-fire, son-in-law-captured video showed that the house was gone but a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe was still standing.

She doesn’t see the survival of the statue as a miracle, but rather as “a beautiful sign to us.”

“So when I saw the picture, I said, ‘We need to go up and say a prayer around our statue.’ So I just texted all my kids — we have six kids, and five are married — and I texted everybody and I said, ‘If you can do this, we’re going to meet,” she said.

All six kids met their parents at the site during the morning of Jan. 9, along with some of their spouses — about a dozen people in all. They had to sneak through neighbors’ yards in order to avoid barricades.

They said a prayer of consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as they have frequently done over the years. Then they decided to sing. Peter started an intonation, and they launched into a multi-pitch harmony of Regina Caeli. A family friend took video. Another family friend posted the video on social media. The Register did a story about it the next day, followed by many other news outlets.

The reaction to the video has been heartening, Halpin told the Register.

As for dealing with the day-to-day problems …

“It’s just kind of reality sinking in and, you know, we have times during the day — I mean, I have my little cry period, and then I get it done,” Halpin said. “It is exhausting just thinking about everything. It’s so exhausting.”

What’s past is painful. What’s ahead seems daunting.

“So, I think it’s just, I’m a little afraid of the process,” she said. “But I think we just have to go through it and just pray. We do trust — pray and trust that God will sustain us. And we know he will.”

“You know, our brains know he will. So we just have to keep our hearts in there.”