Support for Idabell Lewis Oden’s Home Restoration and Legacy

In Loving Memory of Mrs. Idabell Lewis Oden

This past Monday, our beloved mother, Idabell Lewis Oden, tragically lost her life in a house fire in her cherished home of 53 years in the Old Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans.

The fire began in the front room while she was napping in her bedroom. In recent years, our mother had been facing increasing physical limitations brought on by glaucoma-related vision loss and the effects of social isolation since the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe she was trying to make her way to the back door of her shotgun-style home when she was overcome by smoke. Firefighters arrived within minutes, but due to the intensity of the fire and the smoke, they had difficulty locating her. By the time she was brought outside, she was unresponsive and in cardiac arrest. Despite 42 minutes of resuscitation efforts, they were unable to revive her.

Our mother was a nurturing soul and a fiercely devoted woman who lived her life in service of others. She cared for her aging parents and grandmother until their passing, and selflessly gave everything for her four children. Nothing brought her greater joy than being with her 10 grandchildren, vacationing with family, and worshipping at her lifelong church, Mt. Sinai Baptist Church in Algiers.

If you ever stepped into her kitchen, you were guaranteed a warm meal—gumbo, red beans, or her beloved greens and black-eyed peas, especially on New Year’s Eve. Her home was a beacon for family and friends, a place of laughter, faith, food, and celebration—especially on fireworks nights at the levee.

For the last 20 years, she fought to preserve her home in the face of gentrification and rising pressure in her historic neighborhood. She was deeply proud of her home and never stopped fighting to keep it.

Tragically, after maintaining homeowners insurance for over 40 years, she was dropped by her insurance carrier in the last few years. As a result, her home was uninsured at the time of the loss. Within hours of her passing, opportunists began circling—offering to buy the fire-damaged home, and even breaking in before we could secure the property. This has only compounded our grief.

This is a devastating and unimaginable loss—both of our mother and our family home, all in one day.

In response to the outpouring of love and support from family, friends, and neighbors, we’ve created this GoFundMe memorial fund to help cover funeral expenses and to support our efforts to restore her home and honor her legacy.

My siblings, Alecia and Johnny, and I are doing our best to navigate this traumatic moment while carrying the financial weight of these sudden losses. Any donation, no matter the amount, or even just sharing this campaign, means more than we can express.

Any funds we receive beyond funeral and restoration costs will be donated to Mt. Sinai Baptist Church in her memory.

We will always love you, Mama.

We are so proud of you.

Thank you for everything.

— With love and gratitude,

Tara, Alecia, and Johnny Jr.