Walter Perry Jr. and his wife Gwendolyn “Joyce” Perry had adopted an infant boy 10 months earlier in 1978.
[media-credit name="Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald" align="alignleft" width="270"][/media-credit] Gwendolyn “Joyce” Perry, Walter Perry Jr., and Kimo
It was about six years after the family moved from Las Vegas to Loveland and seven years after they had married.
Walter worked in construction and landscaping. The family was active at the Church of Christ. Walter and Joyce would often drive the church’s school bus. They taught Sunday School.
On May 29, 1978, an infant was born in Denver. The Perrys adopted the child and named their adopted son Kimo.
Shortly after midnight on March 12, 1979, the couple was awakened by flames.
There were too many flames inside the home to get to a back bedroom where tiny Kimo was in his crib, so Walter and Gwendolyn escaped from the front of the home.
They ran around to the back of the home to see if there was a way to get to Kimo.
Walter Perry tried to rescue his son who was still inside the one-story home, but suffered severe burns in the process.
Neighbor Steve Montel awoke and saw a “glare” on the curtain, according to an account in the Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald.
Montel looked out the window and saw that the Perry home was on fire. He immediately called 911. It was 12:54 a.m.
Just then, she heard banging at the door.
“‘My husband. My baby,’” Gwendolyn screamed hysterically.
Gwendolyn explained that she had to drag her husband out of her house but she couldn’t reach her son who was in a back bedroom.
Montel dressed quickly and his wife Karolyn threw on a bathrobe.