Sunday, Dec. 25, 2005 | 7:47 a.m.
When David Cockrell died of a heart attack at age 39 last year, he left behind a wife, five children and a four-bedroom, three-bath Henderson home he had just begun to renovate.
There were torn-up floors, unpainted walls, a faulty air conditioner and a yard in need of turf, shrubs and trees.
His 37-year-old widow, Bridgett, was left to raise her family on a small pension and Social Security.
She could barely afford to pay the mortgage and utility bills and keep food on the table for the children -- ranging in age from 5 to 20 -- let alone pay workers to finish remodeling the home.
After a year of struggling, a frustrated Bridgett Cockrell wrote a one-page letter to God, telling him she was desperate and asking him to send some caring soul to make her home near Boulder Highway and Sunset Road healthy and livable for her family.
She sealed the letter and gave it to her pastor, asking him to mail it to her in two months, knowing God surely would answer her prayers by then.
Ten minutes after the letter to God arrived at her home, a Southwest Homes representative called to ask when he could send a crew out to begin renovating the 19-year-old dwelling.
Local real estate broker Nick Till had heard of the Cockrells' plight from one of his two sons who attends Lake Mead Christian Academy with one of Cockrell's children.
He called Southwest Homes President Todd Slusher, and Slusher put crews to work and paid for materials and labor valued in excess of $45,000.
Saturday the family enjoyed Christmas Eve with a traditional meal of tamales -- topped off with a birthday cake for Jesus -- secure in the warmth of a safe, healthy and blessed home.
"God is our provider," Cockrell said. "Nick and Todd were the vessels God used. And I know David also interceded on our behalf, telling God his family was so desperate and really needed help.
"God answered a lot of the community's prayers for us. We could not be more grateful."
Till, a broker for the commercial real estate firm C.B. Richard Ellis, said he often does charity work and, when he heard of the family's plight, he went to the Cockrell home to see if he could help by finishing the tiling.
"I walked in and thought, 'Oh boy,' " Till said, recalling the vastness of torn-up floors and large piles of new tile David Cockrell had bought just before he died.
"I told her it would take me six months of Sundays to get the job done, and that I would have to see if I could find a contractor who could help. The whole house -- inside and out -- needed a lot of work."
Till, a Henderson Little League board member, recalled having met Slusher, a Legacy Little League board member, at a youth baseball function. He decided to give him a call.
"This was a pretty heart-wrenching story," Slusher said. "I'm a Christian, and something inside told me to do this. When Nick told me about the tile situation and other problems, we just decided to do it all for this family."
Doing it all included replacing air conditioners, doing additional electrical work, applying stucco, painting walls, replacing drywall where needed and installing bathroom fixtures, carpeting, new cabinets and a new kitchen.
"There was such gratification helping a family that was in a situation that nobody wants to be in," Slusher said.
Till, a Las Vegas resident of 15 years, said he had a good understanding of Bridgett Cockrell's plight. About the time her husband died on June 15, 2004, Till's wife, Stacy, was in the hospital on a life support system, stemming from a bout with sepsis, an infection of the blood.
"I believe that prayers saved my wife's life, and that the Cockrells' prayers also needed to be answered," Till said. "I'm very emotional just thinking about what was done to help this family. It's just so overwhelming."
Slusher, a Southern Nevada resident of 17 years, contacted nine subcontracting companies to help. Some volunteered, others were paid by Southwest Homes, a small local homebuilder that this year built 550 homes, including 100 at Desert Canyon near Cockrell's property.
Over a two-month period, 15 to 25 crew members worked daily on the repairs and remodeling at the Cockrell home.
Cockrell said her husband had been employed as a maintenance engineer and before that had been trained in all of the building trades. He also had gone to school to learn plumbing and air conditioning.
David Cockrell spent much of his free time working on church projects and other charitable events, his widow said.
Bridgett Cockrell recalled how, to help prepare the floor for David to lay the tile, she, their children -- Grace, 5; Bridgett, 8; Cristofer, 13; Tiffany, 16; and Bernie, 20 -- and her mother, Yolanda, who lives with the family, tore up the old flooring with chisels.
"He had planned to do so much, but just did not get the time to get it done -- we miss him a lot," Bridgett Cockrell said.
"David's death was quite sudden, not expected. He was in great shape -- took his vitamins, hiked Mount Charleston, biked, did his exercises. It just happened."
With limited income in the wake of his death, Bridgett Cockrell, who is a volunteer counselor at the Women's Resource Center and at the Central Christian Church, says the family finds free things to do such as board games, picnics and hiking.
Cockrell's church recently gave her a small amount of money so she could buy her children a few Christmas gifts. Slusher's company, however, made it an even merrier Christmas on Friday when he presented the family with a department store gift card for $2,000.
But Cockrell said the best gift was getting the house repaired.
"My kids got a livable home where they can bring their friends," she said. "We still have a journey ahead of us. But we'll be fine. My husband sowed good seeds and God has always provided for us when we have been in need."
Cockrell says next year she plans to get a full-time job to ease some of the financial burden.
"I would like to get a job where I can work with people and make a difference in someone's life," she said. "If I have to clean homes or rooms, I will do that. But I would rather do the type of work that impacts people's lives."
She already has begun to try to repay the community for her good fortune.
For Thanksgiving, she and her family invited into their nearly finished home 25 people who did not have local families and served them turkey dinners.
"What I said when we went around the table that day telling the Lord what we were thankful for is how I feel today," Cockrell said. "I said, 'Thank you Father, for again we have life in our home.' "
Ed Koch can be reached at 259-4090 or at [email protected].
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