Woman, son, two grandchildren remembered after dying in fire near Port Orchard

PORT ORCHARD, Wash. — They came, they said, to pray.

"Thy kingdom come," they intoned. "Thy will be done.

These former coworkers, most of them teachers at the Jackson Park Child Development Center in nearby Bremerton, stood outside the fire-ravaged home on Castlewood Drive Southeast of Vili Simpson.

She and three members of her family, gone in an instant.

"Tell us about Vili," Victoria Lee was asked.

"She's always friendly to everybody," she said. "She's always nice. That's why she's loved by many."

Kitsap County Firefighters said when they arrived to this house early Saturday morning, it was already engulfed in flames.  They quickly pulled a second alarm, then a third.

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Sixty-three-year-old Don Simpson escaped, but his wife, son and grandchildren were still inside the burning house.  They never made it out alive.  Family and friends have confirmed Simpson, her son Merle, 3-year-old granddaughter, Madison, and 2-year-old grandson, Collin, died in the blaze.

"It's kind of hard," Lee said, her voice breaking. "You get emotional because life is too precious."

Pierce County Superior court documents describe a troubled relationship between the mother of her grandchildren and their father.

Victoria Coen filed a restraining order last month against Merle Simpson. She accused him of having a "repeating drinking issue" and that he would "get violent and mentally abusive."

Merle has been violent in the past," she wrote. "And I don't want him losing his temper to the children. Merle has told me in the past that if I leave him he will kill himself," she added omniously.

Victoria's family declined to talk on camera, but they said the restraining order was based on a misunderstanding and that Victoria has had a change of heart.

A spokesman for the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office says they will know much more about this fire once they have a cause. That could happen later this week.

Cox Media Group