Group Pitches In To Help Clear Space Around 101-Year-Old Amador County Woman's Home

AMADOR COUNTY (CBS13) - Thelma Clancy is 101 and she's been living in her home in the Amador County woods for the last 30 years or so.

"I live in a clearing in the forest and, like many people up here, I'm hearing from my insurance company they're going to cancel my insurance unless I do thus, thus and thus," Clancy said.

If she couldn't make those adjustments, Thelma would lose her homeowner's insurance.

"It's been 15 years or more since I did. Older people can't do it. It's very difficult to find help too," she said.

"Clean the roof, getting moss off -- those were the things that they spent the most detail on," Dallan Clancy, Thelma's son, said. "But the real heavy work was in that next 70 feet where you had to thin out the trees, thin out the underbrush and downed trees."

Thelma was a long-time member of the county's Commission On Aging, a program that looks after the well-being of seniors in the community.

She called them for help.  After not getting a lot of responses, an Amador County Sheriff's deputy and Sheriff Gary Redman decided to help Thelma.

"I talked to my wife and we both kind of decided if she would allow us," Lieutenant Brandon Cone said.

"We have property ourselves so, the machinery and the equipment to clear it. So it was kind of in our wheelhouse and we wanted to help out."

The Sheriff's Office began coordinating with Clancy's son to survey the land and the Lockwood Fire Department for additional resources.

And, did they ever.

Lieutenant Cone, his wife, and a volunteer from the Lockwood Fire Department cleared 66 square feet of vegetation from Thelma's home.

Clearing trees in hopes of sending a clear message to all.

"I would that especially in these smaller communities that everybody helps someone to some degree," Cone said.

It's kindness Thelma's seen in Amador county.

But receiving that kindness is still overwhelming this beyond grateful woman.

"Not just to get the work done but, the fact they wanted to do it, that was the real prize. That they were so willing and wanted to help," Clancy said.

Thelma's son told CBS13 that they'll be sending photos of the new cleared-out area in hopes of continuing the insurance for her property.