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HARRISVILLE — In the quaint kitchen of his Harrisville home Tim Feltner cooks up sweetness. For 10 years he and his family have been stirring up the same recipe, but now it has a vital purpose, and the secret ingredient is love.
"It's all about just helping the kids," Tim Feltner said as he unwrapped the butter and poured in the corn syrup.
He knows life isn't perfect. "Never is. There's not a family out there that doesn't have problems."
His caramel-making operation is a recipe for success. "Worry is a substitute for action," he said. He crouched down and picked up his granddaughter, Emory, who is 1 years old, and then scooped up two other granddaughters and let them sit on the counter.
With his favorite rock song on full blast, his granddaughters danced to the beat and he stirred the mixture as it cooked on the stovetop. "(Music) is part of the process," his wife Kris Feltner said. "It really is."
Make no mistake, they are boiling up solutions.
The problem was unexpected.
"She was diagnosed at three weeks," said Kaylee Knighton, the Feltner's daughter, and Emory's mother. The toddler has cystic fibrosis, an incurable disorder that damages the lungs and digestive system. Her twice-daily percussive treatments (more when she's sick) break up the mucus and keep her healthy.
Soon she'll be old enough for an expensive vest that does the percussive treatment automatically. By selling caramels, the Feltners have raised enough money to pay for the vest, Emory's monthly prescriptions and then some.
"He jumped right in without me even knowing," Knighton said. "There are no words."
But that wasn't enough for Tim Feltner, who teaches high school engineering and is a bishop for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He invented a device that could replace manual treatments for kids with cystic fibrosis in developing countries, making their lives and their parents' lives easier, he said.
"It's just solenoid-driven and then hooked into batteries," he said.
The Feltners weigh and package caramels that have cooled the night before to prepare them to sell at community events and fairs. To look at the family — all smiles and lots of hugs, you'd think the weight they carry is light. But it's not.
"That was something you hope you never go through," Tim Feltner said. His mood grew somber.
Kelsey Christensen, the Feltner's other daughter said, "She was just a perfect baby. She was perfect in every way."
August of last year, after a day at the park with her 2-month-old Kimber, "I went upstairs, put her down for a nap, kissed her, you know, said 'I love you' to her and walked out."
That was the last time she saw her baby alive.
"I could just feel something was off, so I went in and she was gone," Christensen said.
Sudden infant death syndrome had taken her baby's life. "The rest is a blur," she said. "I don't really remember a lot of it."
The family is still mourning the tragedy, but they haven't stopped cooking.
"They're my rock," Christensen said. "Without them, I'd be pretty lost."
Tim Feltner named the company in their late granddaughter's honor. 'Kimber's Karamels' sounded just right."
"He's superman. He really is," she said.
He wiped away a tear. "They're my life," he said.
The shed at the back of his large, green backyard will one day be the kitchen where he cooks up goodness.
He said it's just what you do. When life gives you lemons, you make caramels.
