NEOLA, Duchesne County — George Houston and his son, Tracy, were never far away when a neighbor was in need.
A week before the two men died in the devastating Neola wildfire, they showed up on Larry Murray's neighboring ranch to see what they could do to help. A large equipment shed on Murray's property was engulfed in flames and the Houstons were ready to lend a hand however they could, despite George Houston's ailing heart and bad back.
"They were always around, just to watch out for their friends and neighbors," said Murray, one of more than 800 people who attended a memorial service Thursday for the father and son.
The Houstons were watching out for Roger Roberson Sr. in Farm Creek last Friday night, trying to help the 75-year-old whom they were buying hay from to move a wheel line to protect his freshly mowed field from a raging wildfire on a nearby ridge.
Ultimately the fire exploded into the valley where the men were working. It killed the Houstons outright and fatally injured Roberson. Tracy Houston's 11-year-old son, Duane, escaped the blaze after his father told him to run.
Family members said the Houstons' willingness to help, even if it put them at risk, was not uncommon.
"It's no surprise to anyone that knew them that with the fire out there they stopped their truck, got out and went to help (Roberson) move his wheel line," Tracy Houston's brother-in-law Bret Goodrich told the mourners inside Roosevelt's West LDS Stake Center. "Their last actions were helping Mr. Roberson and telling Duane to run."
Overwhelming community support for the Houston family delayed the start of the memorial service by over an hour. People lined the hallways of the stake center, waiting for a chance to pay their respects to the family.
Shadowboxes containing the charred personal effects of each man and photos of the family's visit to the place where they died were on display as mourners filed into a small room that held the men's open caskets. Many left the room wiping tears from their eyes. Some were visibly shaking.
"The past few days have been humbling; humbling to feel the love and support of all of you here," son and brother Howard Houston told those attending the service. "They took care of so many of us for so long, now it's time for us to step up to the plate and follow in their footsteps."
Greg Houston said his father instilled a strong work ethic in all four of his children. The 41-year U.S. Forest Service veteran and rancher was a stickler for getting things done right the first time, his son said, and had a love for manual labor.
"It seemed like all we did as kids was haul wood and haul wood and haul wood and go back for more," Greg Houston said. "I think we picked up every rock in Neola — which is a bunch of rocks — probably five times."
Greg Houston said his father and brother were nearly inseparable. He said they shared a love for wild places, for working the land and raising livestock and for seeing that others were cared for. Those values were reaffirmed in the way the two men lost their lives.
"They were both up in the mountains where they loved to be, helping somebody," Greg Houston said. "It's almost fitting the way they went together."
Following the memorial service, a line of law enforcement and fire vehicles escorted two white hearses to the remote Neola Cemetery. The Uinta Mountains, which still burn with the fire that claimed the Houstons' lives, stood in the distance, shrouded behind a veil of dark storm clouds.
An impromptu honor guard of U.S. Forest Service firefighters was formed as the pine caskets — marked with the Houston brand — were carried to the graves. Appropriately, father and son were to be buried the way they lived, the way they died: side-by-side.
E-mail: geoff@ubstandard.com