{"id":154961,"date":"2024-10-28T11:07:20","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T15:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=154961"},"modified":"2024-10-28T11:08:17","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T15:08:17","slug":"rising-from-the-ashes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2024\/10\/28\/rising-from-the-ashes\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising from the ashes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Darrell Blevins, a public history graduate student at Wright State, has rebuilt his life after a series of tragic events.<\/p><\/div>\n

On the fourth floor of Paul Laurence Dunbar Library in Wright State University\u2019s Special Collections and Archives<\/a>, Darrell Blevins peers into a display case of photos commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Xenia tornado. Blevins curated the exhibit after sifting through hundreds of photos and newspaper stories from the Dayton Daily News archives along with boxes of personal letters and photos about the disaster.<\/p>\n

While his circumstances may be different, Blevins understands the grit and determination that was needed as the residents of Xenia began to rebuild their lives. Blevins, a public history graduate student at Wright State, has undertaken a similar journey following tragic loss.<\/p>\n

In October 2021, Blevins underwent knee replacement surgery. Due to a rare infection following the procedure, he had to undergo five additional surgeries. While he was hospitalized for one of those surgeries, his mother-in-law passed away. Ten days later, on March 22, 2022, his wife died.<\/p>\n

Blevins had met his wife in 1997. They became college sweethearts, married and had two children.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just devastating for me,\u201d said Blevins.<\/p>\n

Amidst his gut-wrenching grief and intense pain from multiple knee surgeries, Blevins was also struggling with being unemployed and on disability. Due to his physical challenges, he had been forced to leave his job and a steady income in the roofing and siding industry.<\/p>\n

As he began rebuilding his life after losing his partner of 25 years, Blevins decided to return to school. He enrolled in Wright State University\u2019s Master of Humanities program and began taking classes in January 2023.<\/p>\n

Blevins later transferred from the humanities program to the Master of Arts in History program, with a concentration in public history<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just seemed like a natural fit for me,\u201d said Blevins, who has always been interested in archives and museums.<\/p>\n

To develop hands-on experience for his future career path \u2014 and help pay for the gasoline for his commute from his Springfield-area home \u2014 Blevins works about 20 hours a week in Wright State\u2019s Special Collections and Archives.<\/p>\n

Blevins relishes looking up mechanical drawings on microfilm by aviation pioneers and the university\u2019s namesakes Orville and Wilbur Wright; helping out in the reading room; and assisting visitors to the world-renowned collections housed in the archives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe work is fascinating,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause I have a huge interest in history.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the fall of 2023, life was finally looking up for Blevins. He was healing from the devasting loss of his wife and had found love again. He was enjoying his classes and his work in Special Collections and Archives.<\/p>\n

Just a few days after Thanksgiving, tragedy struck again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

In addition to pursuing a master\u2019s degree, Darrel Blevins works in Wright State\u2019s Special Collections and Archives.<\/p><\/div>\n

Blevins and his daughter \u2014 who is also a Wright State student \u2014 lost their home and two beloved family pets in a fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were homeless. We had no belongings, no food, just the clothes on our backs,\u201d Blevins recalled.<\/p>\n

His Wright State professors were understanding of his situation, and one of his professors told him about the College of Liberal Arts Emergency Fund, which provides one-time funding to students facing an unexpected or sudden emergency that prevents them from taking classes.<\/p>\n

Blevins applied and received $500 from the emergency fund. That money was a godsend for Blevins and his daughter as they waited for reimbursement from their insurance company.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe money wasn\u2019t as important to me as it was knowing that it was there for me to get what we needed,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI didn\u2019t know the next day where we were going to be sleeping or eating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family ended up living in a hotel for three months before they could move into another home.<\/p>\n

During that time, Blevins also received help from his colleagues in Dunbar Library and Special Collections and Archives, who gave him cash and gift cards to nearby grocery stores and restaurants.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am just completely and utterly overwhelmed at the amount of support I\u2019ve received,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is why I like Wright State. It feels like a community.\u201d<\/p>\n

While life has dealt Blevins numerous blows over the last few years, he prefers to look at the bright side and find silver linings wherever he can.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still don\u2019t know why my house burned down, but I\u2019m still here,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m still working on a master\u2019s degree. I\u2019ve got a great girl that I love. Some of what we lost was irreplaceable family stuff, but nothing valuable. How can you not be thankful that your kid wasn\u2019t hurt?\u201d<\/p>\n

Like the survivors of the Xenia tornado five decades ago, Blevins is the epitome of resilience.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough I\u2019ve been beaten down repeatedly,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019m still here and I\u2019m stronger than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Darrell Blevins, a public history graduate student at Wright State, received support from the College of Liberal Arts Emergency Fund after a tragic incident. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":154968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,2040,2060,725,4863,747,2114,715,2118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-giving","category-graduate","category-home-news-sidebar","category-humanities-and-cultural-studies","category-liberal-arts","category-libraries","category-news","category-special-collections-and-archives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154961"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154995,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154961\/revisions\/154995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}