Leola Vierra stepped gingerly among the hardened pools of melted metal, charred wood and broken glass that are almost all that remain of the home where she lived for nearly 50 years.
Sifting through the rubble, she found two cow-patterned vessels, part of her extensive collection of bovine figurines. Nearby, her son discovered the blackened remnants of his late grandfather’s pistol, dating to his days as a Lahaina policeman in the 1950s. There was no sign of the beloved cat, Kitty Kai, that used to greet her when she came home from work.
