Local News
Lubbock veteran and wife searching for new beginning after fire destroys their RV - KCBD
A Lubbock couple lost their RV home to a stove fire early Monday morning, just months after getting married and committing to life on the road together. Shelly and James Stratton married in May 2025 and made the decision in March to live full-time in an RV, personalizing the space and calling it their own.
Shelly and James Stratton married in May 2025 and made the decision in March to live full-time in an RV, personalizing the space and calling it their own. James is a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq in the 2000s. The couple described themselves as soulmates who leaned on each other through the hard stretches of building a life together.
The fire started at the stove and spread out of control before they could stop it. Among the things lost was a bass guitar James had recently bought and loved to play. Shelly recalled how they had made the RV truly theirs, which makes the loss hit differently than losing a conventional house full of replaceable furniture.
For a veteran and his wife who had just found their footing as a married couple, losing their home this soon into that chapter is a hard reset. They are now starting over with almost nothing from a life they had only recently built.
The Strattons had been together a little more than two years before the fire.
Common questions
How did the Lubbock couple lose their RV?
- A stove fire started inside the RV and spread out of control before Shelly and James Stratton could stop it. The couple had only been living full-time in the RV since March 2025, just months after their May wedding, and had personalized the space to make it their home.
Who are Shelly and James Stratton?
- Shelly and James Stratton are a Lubbock couple who married in May 2025. James is a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq in the 2000s. The two described themselves as soulmates and had committed to a full-time RV lifestyle together before the fire destroyed their home.
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