Company fills in giant sinkholes, replaces 200-year-old tree for free

BROOKSVILLE – Four months after L.R.E. Ground Services Inc. filled three massive sinkholes on a residential property in Brooksville and absorbed thousands of dollars of cost in the process, the company returned Tuesday to memorialize the passing of the woman who lived there.

Company representatives met with Richard Gray and Karen Robinson to plant an oak tree in memory of their mother, Lily Fielder, who lived in the house since 1963. She passed away from leukemia after Tropical Storm Debby flooded the one-acre property, creating the three sinkholes and destroying a 200-year-old oak tree in the process.

According to L.R.E., Gray exhausted all options for financial assistance in an effort to salvage the home, and that’s when the company stepped in and volunteered its services to fill the sinkholes, which required dozens of truckloads worth of dirt and thousands of dollars in manpower and resources. L.R.E. absorbed the costs.

“We couldn’t just sit by and not do anything for this homeowner,” said L.R.E. General Manager Frank Vitale. “These were massive holes that were unsafe for the homeowner and possibly other Hernando County residents. L.R.E. put a Band-Aid on an issue that likely will need more attention down the road. But the work we performed on this property should be considered a significant step in the right direction for Mr. Gray, his family and all of Hernando County.”

The home is in a floodplain and not insured for sinkholes, according to L.R.E. representatives, and with the help of FEMA money, Lily’s husband, Troy Fielder, was moved to an assisted living facility in Tennessee after his wife passed.

The county wants the concrete home to be raised on stilts. However, Gray and Robinson indicated they probably won’t do that and are taking the property “day by day.” Whether they will sell the home or keep it another 50 years, they said they have yet to decide.