Bride-to-Be, 19, Dies After House Fire on Her Wedding Day: 'Just a Precious Human,' Family Says
"There was nothing about her that you couldn’t like,” Paige Ruddy's aunt said, remembering her niece
A 19-year-old woman from Reedsburg, Wis., has died after a house fire took place on what was supposed to be her wedding day.
Paige Ruddy and her fiancé Logan Mitchell-Carter exchanged vows on Monday night and had planned to say “I do” in front of family and friends at the Sauk County Courthouse for a Tuesday wedding ceremony, her family told WMTV News this week.
However, a house fire on the day of her wedding broke out in the residence where Ruddy had been living with her fiancé and his grandparents, who owned the home.
She was hospitalized for smoke inhalation due to the fire and died of a brain hemorrhage a day later on Wednesday.
The Sauk County Coroner’s office told WMTV that its preliminary investigation shows that Ruddy's cause of death was smoke inhalation.
The family told the news station that they did not believe that the house had any working smoke detectors, and urged others to double-check their own homes to keep their families safe.
Several of Ruddy’s family members and friends honored her as a kind and independent girl, who they remembered fondly.
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“She was just a precious human. There was nothing about her that you couldn’t like,” Ruddy’s Aunt Holly told WMTV. “She was this presence you never knew you needed in your life, but always did.”
“Her smile was unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” she added. “She was always there to help anyone.”
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”She had a big caring heart,” said friend Lily Markgraf, who graduated high school with Ruddy. “She was there for anyone who needed it, even if she didn’t like the person. If they needed her help, she’d be there to help them. I’m going to miss her for the rest of my life.”
Ruddy's family said she had just graduated from Reedsburg Area High School in June 2022 and planned to enroll in a Vet Tech program at Madison Area Technical College this fall.
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