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Family recalls pregnant woman killed in blaze as adventurer, loving mother

Late Wednesday afternoon, John and Diane Drummond walked a few friends and family to their cars, which lined their driveway off Armstrong Road.

As the last few drove away, the couple quietly made their way back into their home.

The couple had lost their only daughter, Jessica, 33, earlier that day to a fire in her apartment.

A fire that remains under investigation today.

John, the assistant San Joaquin County sheriff, and Diane Drummond, did not want to discuss their loss, but other family members discussed how Jessica Drummond loved the outdoors and her children.

Jason Drummond, Jessica's brother, lingered in the driveway with his wife Trish and their children.

He said he has friends who live in the Chateau Apartments, where the fire occurred.

"They came over at 4:30 in the morning, pounding on the door," Jason Drummond said. "He said: 'Your sister's apartment is on fire.'"

Hours after discovering his sister was lost, he said he was "trying to muddle through the rest of the day." Jessica Drummond was a Lodi High graduate and the mother of twin 10-year-old girls, Francesca and Joelle.

"It's a terrible loss to us as a family," Jason Drummond said.

The last time Jason saw his sister was just a few days ago, "chit-chatting" at their parents' house, their usual meeting-place.

Jason and Trish Drummond's children Evan, 8, and Jillian, 11, zipped around the driveway on green-wheeled Razor scooters; his step-daughter Kelly Journagan, 14, stood with her hands in her pockets.

Jessica Drummond

Francesca and Joelle were inside with their grandparents, too upset to do much.

"They're walking around with pictures of their mom," Jason Drummond said. They'll be living with their grandparents for the time being.

The girls weren't at the apartment when it went up in flames early Wednesday morning.

"Every Tuesday night they spend the night at grandma's house. Their father is not in the picture, so they hang out with grandpa and grandma and tool around," he added.

Just about every weekend, Jessica would embrace her love of the outdoors. To unwind from her demanding job, administrative secretary at a refrigeration company in Valley Springs, Jessica would organize trips out of the Central Valley. It would be the beach one weekend, Lake Tahoe the next. Another memorable trip was going to a rock water slide called Candy Rock, near Traverse Creek in Placerville.

Jessica Drummond, left, her mother, Diane Drummond, and Jessica's twin daughters, Francesca and Joelle, pose in a 2003 picture from Disneyland. Jessica Drummond was killed in an early morning apartment fire Wednesday in Lodi. The cause of the fire is under investigation. (Courtesy photo)

"She just wanted to show our kids all the things we got to see when we were their age," remembered her brother.

"She was the nicest person in the world," said Jason Drummond's daughter Jillian Drummond.

They remembered a trip to Hogan Lake just two months ago, when they all swam, went on nature walks and found lizards. Two weeks ago the girls had a sleep-over at Jessica's apartment.

The family had planned a snowboarding trip to Lake Tahoe sometime this winter. They're not canceling the trip, even though their adventure leader will be missing.

"We can't let this stop us," Jason Drummond said. "My sister wouldn't like that."

Contact reporter Kendyce Manguchei at kendycem@lodinews.com.

First published: Thursday, December 21, 2006