Woman killed in Fort Myers fire remembered fondly

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A Wednesday night fire claimed the life of a woman known as a community pillar.

Lalai Hamric died after she was hospitalized following the blaze, which started in a pot that was being heated on a stove in her condo at Pointe Royale on 1910 Virginia Ave. Those who knew her remember her giving spirit.

“She was so alive and working hard all the way through,” said the Rev. Paul deJong of First Presbyterian Church. “It was so sudden. I guess if we could all write our own scripts, that’s probably the best.”

Hamric frequently sang “God Bless America” at the church on 2438 Second St. to help raise money for charitable causes. She performed at the church’s annual Christmas Carol Sing to benefit the Community Cooperative, a nonprofit that focuses on hunger and homelessness in Lee County.

“Just to know that the next event we’re going to have that she would be singing, and she’s not going to be here, it’s very sad for us,” said Tracey Galloway, the group’s CEO. “But, we know that she’s up there singing for us.”

Hamric always had a habit of looking out for people.

“When we were new here, she brought us over for Christmas, because she figured, OK, they don’t have any place to go,” deJong said.

Hamric served as CEO of Family Health Centers of Southwest Florida, a health care provider with several locations across the region. She lived next to Susan Bennett, whose husband discovered Hamric’s body in the fire.

“We didn’t know, at that time, whether she was going to make it or not,” Bennett said. “They were performing CPR on her then.”

Emergency crews couldn’t save her, but her death can’t erase what she did for those around her.

“I’m so sad that she’s gone, but she has left such a mark on the community,” Bennett said.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced yet.