GRAND COUNTY, Colo. — When one chapter ends, a new one begins.
"There's growth," Glenn Hileman said as he looked out over his property in Grand County. "Tons of it."
Glenn knows getting to the next phase is not always easy.
"I think my parents would have been very disappointed if we had not carried on their legacy," Glenn said.
The mountainside is still scarred from the East Troublesome Fire that burned through the area in October of 2020. Construction crews now fill the land outside Grand Lake that Glenn and his family has owned for more than 70 years. A new house replaces one filled with so many memories.
The yellow house in the mountains that Glenn's parents built decades ago burned in the fire. Lyle and Marylin Hileman died inside.
"They estimate that the fire came through here at around 10 o'clock that night," Glen said. "Fifteen minutes after I spoke to them, they were lost in the fire. They were together in the place they loved the most. That’s where their lives concluded."
Little survived the fire. Everything they did will forever be a part of the story here. The flames spared a pair of spruce trees and left the family flag barely hanging on.
"My mom was absolutely adamant, I want my ashes spread in between the two trees," Glen said. "They were significant to my parents, and therefore, they were significant to us."
Shortly after the fire, Glenn and his family gathered beneath the trees to spread Lyle and Marylin's ashes. They also raised a new American flag to the top of the surviving flagpole.
"During the fire and after the fire, when we arrived eight days later, there were remnants of that flag that were still intact," Glen said. "We were amazed by it."
The East Troublesome Fire was the second-largest wildfire in the state's history. It burned nearly 200,000 acres. Hundreds of people in Grand Lake still need to rebuild, even all these years after the fire. There has been a builder shortage in the area, and on top of that, when the snow moves in, it is hard for any construction work to move forward.
The physical recovery can be different from the mental recovery. Glenn wrote a book to share his parents' story, all the way through the final chapter. The book is called "A Yellow House in the Mountains." He hopes everyone remembers the people who lived inside and loved it.
"It was now 10 o’clock. Glenn called his parents back. There was no answer," Glenn said as he read a passage from the book he wrote. "I haven’t read that in a long time. That’s kind of tough. Probably a year since I’ve read that. Lots of memories. It was a beautiful ending to two beautiful lives."
Grand Lake is hosting its Troublesome Fest this weekend. Every year, the festival brings people together to celebrate community instead of dwelling on what was lost. They also focus on fire mitigation and education. Glenn will be handing out his book to make sure his parents' story isn’t forgotten four years after the fire.