Heartbroken, but no longer homeless
Kevin Drake sat in a worn blue velvet chair and wiped away tears.
He had just been given the keys to the apartment. Other than the chair, a bed, a nightstand and a lamp, the apartment was empty. Still, he had a roof over his head and a door to lock at night.
If his fiancee could see him now, she would be angry.
After years living on the street, it took her dying for him to get housing.
"I know Petra is cussing me right now."
Drake was there when Petra Hensler was hit by a vehicle in January. Drake, who had already crossed the road, heard the crash happen behind him. He turned to see Hensler's body tumbling down the road.
She died a few days later.
The pair had planned to get married this summer.
Drake sank deeper into the donated blue chair. He hoped the grief would be more manageable after her memorial.
"Petra would always tell me 'I love you' at the end of the day, no matter what," he said. "We had our differences but she was there for me."
The memorial
A few days later, Pastor Kathy Kern spoke at Hensler's memorial.
"Kevin was the love of her life," Kern said. "What a powerful love story."
Drake watched Kern speak from the back of the room. He was silent. His fist clutched an unlit cigarette.
More than 50 people came to the memorial, including Hensler's brother, two sisters and her son. Hosted by Randy and Shannon Bacon, Hensler's memorial was held at Bacon Photography Studio in downtown Springfield on March 5.
Poster boards on display were covered with photos of Hensler before she became homeless — her as a child, as a teen, as a new mom. There were examples of her drawings and favorite poems she had transcribed. An urn holding her ashes sat prominently on a table, flanked by more photos and a card Drake had brought her after the accident.
The ashes will be given to her parents.
The Bacons befriended Hensler and Drake about six years ago. Randy Bacon had photographed them and featured the couple in a short documentary a few years ago.
Shannon Bacon and Hensler were particularly close.
When asked what Hensler would have thought about the memorial and the number of people who came, Shannon Bacon smiled.
"She would be tickled. She would be blushing, give me that little grin," Shannon Bacon said. "She would be very humbled."
Kern, pastor of Fresh Oil Ministries, said the couple had been attending church there for more than five years.
Kern noted that Hensler was diagnosed with COPD, a lung disease, and only had a 2-year life expectancy.
"She didn't tell anyone that. She knew she was on her way out," Kern said. "As unexpected and violent as this death is, maybe the Lord spared her the suffering she would have had dying a slow death with COPD."
Randy Bacon also spoke at the memorial about the "groundswell" happening in Springfield, due in part to Hensler's death.
"We will see how it manifests over time but I think big changes are coming for the least of these," he said. "We've got to do things a little bit differently."
In closing, Kern prayed for comfort for Hensler's family, friends, for Drake as well as for the young man driving the truck. The driver has not been charged.
Life for Drake
Though he had just been placed in the apartment through The Kitchen's Housing First program, Drake was visibly upset when a News-Leader reporter and photographer visited on March 2.
He said he had been trying to get housing for three years. It wasn't until Hensler died that things started falling into place.
Since the accident, folks like the Bacons, Kern and Devery Mills, founder of Hearts for the Homeless, had been chipping in to pay for a hotel room.
He said he's stayed sober except once — immediately following the accident.
"It took something for me to calm down," he said.
Homeless woman dies after being struck by vehicle in Springfield
He said he talked to a counselor at Ozark Community Hospital.
Drake got some labor work through a temp agency one day, but thoughts of the accident and of Hensler got to him. He said he struggled to finish the 12-hour shift and hasn't been back.
With help from The Kitchen, he should be able to stay in the apartment for a year. In that time, Drake said he hopes to find a job and get to where he can pay his own rent.
'She was my backbone'
On the night of the accident, Drake said they were headed to a gas station on North Glenstone to get a chicken sandwich and then on to their "spot" when they'd spend the night in sleeping bags.
"They said she was drunk. Well, she wasn't," he said. "No matter what the situation was, she was my backbone and I was hers."
Drake said he's not trying to paint a perfect picture of Hensler.
"She wasn't perfect. The one thing she hated most was the police," he said. "She would just tell them what she thought. If they were treating her wrong, she gave them the same respect they gave her."
And their relationship wasn't perfect either, he added. They broke up once while he was in jail.
"She wasn't a bad person. If a woman needed a shirt or pair of shoes, it was her duty in her mind to go get it for them. She would give it away, if she had it," he said. "Everybody thought Petra was a drunk. Petra didn't drink every day. Petra drank to hide the pain."
In recent years, after being diagnosed with COPD, Drake said she had all but quit drinking except for the occasional shot of Fireball Cinnamon. Drake said the spicy whiskey helped ease the pain in her lungs.
Pastor Kern created the Kevin Drake Permanent Home Fund on GoFundMe.com to raise money for Drake's transition into permanent housing. As of Thursday afternoon, $255 had been donated.
Kern took Drake to Walmart a week ago and spent that $255 on household items, cleaning products and hygiene products. According to Kern, Drake was very frugal and wise in his spending, stretching money to buy quite a bit.
"He really does want to turn his life back around and be off the streets. He still has a lot of grieving to process, which is normal," Kern said. "(Hensler) said he was the love of her life. We often forget about 'homeless people' and that they are really just like everyone else."