
DATE: Thursday, November 6, 1997            TAG: 9711060464

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY CINDY CLAYTON, STAFF WRITER 
                                            LENGTH:   92 lines

A FAMILY MOURNS A MOTHER AND 2 CHILDREN

Six weeks ago, Robert and MelissaDutton were married at Colonial Heights Church of Christ in Norfolk.

Today, Dutton will go to the Marvin Avenue church for a somber occasion: to bury his wife and two children, who died in a fire Monday night that destroyed the Norfolk home where they were living.

Melissa Dutton died before most of her wedding pictures were developed.

Melissa, 20; Samantha Dutton, three months; and Andrew Dutton, 19 months, died of smoke inhalation in the North Fox Hall neighborhood. All three will be buried in the same casket in Forest Lawn Cemetery following a 1 p.m. funeral service.

When firefighters found Melissa, she was holding one of the children.

``She'll be buried with her two children,'' Robert Dutton said Wednesday night as he sat with his brother and sister-in-law at his uncle's Chesapeake home. ``She loved her kids more than anyone could possibly imagine.''

The fire began about 11:35 p.m. Monday when electrical wiring ignited in the garage of the rented house in the 2500 block of Woolsey St. that the Dutton brothers and their families shared.

Robert's brother, Rollie, and several neighbors tried to get to the stairs in the garage that led to the second floor but were turned back by heavy smoke and flames.

By the time firefighters arrived, the roof was collapsing. It was too late for a rescue.

``It's hard to close your eyes. . . You see that house,'' Rollie Dutton said. Since the tragedy, the Duttons have tried to pull their lives back together.

Robert Dutton, 27, has stayed with his grandmother in Chesapeake. A neighbor, retired Norfolk fire captain Charlie Britt, took Rollie Dutton and his family in the night of the fire, and they plan to stay with him until Friday, said Rollie's wife, Linda.

On Friday, they will move to a friend's house until later in the month. By then, she said, they hope to have a place of their own.

``He's a good guy,'' Rollie Dutton said of Britt, whom he credits with saving the life of one of his two sons, Justin, 5.

``He went in there and went all the way to the back of the house and got Justin off the bed.''

``They're really good people in that neighborhood,'' Robert Dutton said. The Dutton brothers said the outpouring of support from folks on Woolsey Street and from friends has been overwhelming.

``This has just really pulled everyone together over there,'' Rollie said.

Rollie's employer at Tidewater Interior Products, where he works as a truck driver, has donated clothing and other items and has set up a fund with a local bank.

Between consultations with the Red Cross and the church, Robert Dutton has had little time to mourn. The grief shows in his eyes.

``I haven't slept since Monday,'' he said. ``Somebody asked me today how I felt and I said, `It's like hell on earth.' ''

Robert and Melissa Dutton met almost two years ago at a birthday party for Robert's nephew. From then on, the pair spent much of their free time together, planning their future.

``We'd stay up until 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning,'' Robert said. ``We'd forget about the time.''

And when they married, Melissa accepted Robert's son, Andrew, as if he were her own. Their daughter, Samantha, was born about a month before the wedding.

``Samantha had the reddest hair and big blue eyes,'' he said. ``She didn't miss out on any attention.''

Both children, he said, were happy. Andrew was just learning to talk.

The Sunday before the fire, the Duttons all gathered at the home of their uncle, James Jones, to watch the Washington Redskins. The family had made it something of a mission to convert Melissa - a former Dallas Cowboys supporter - into a Redskins fan.

The Sunday afternoon football games and the dinners they shared in the Woolsey Street house will be just a few of the memories they carry of Melissa and the children.

Wednesday morning, Robert Dutton publicly added one more memory to the list. He called WNOR-FM99 radio and asked if he could hear a song by the group Tonic because it reminds him of his wife.

``We always listen to your station,'' Dutton told surprised disc jockeys, who immediately complied with his request.

``She was just a happy person,'' Dutton said Wednesday night. ``Everybody loved her and loved to be around her.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Robin Snyder of Coinjock, N.C., hugs her brother Robert Dutton,

whose wife and children died Monday in a house fire in Norfolk. The

siblings are joined by brother Rollie Dutton, left, his wife Linda,

right, and their youngest son, Micah, 2.

Photo

BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Robert Dutton lost his wife, Melissa, their 3-month-old daughter and

his 19-month-old son in a Norfolk house fire Monday. KEYWORDS: FIRE FATALITY