CUMMINGTON — To most of their neighbors, not much was known about Jaye Brink and Shannon Haddock, the residents of the house on 9 Thayer Road that burned down on April 28. The two often kept to themselves, only leaving the home to go to work or get the mail.

But to those who knew them, Brink and Haddock were a devoted, loving couple, sharing a mutual love for writing, books and science fiction, even self-publishing their own series of novels within a shared fictional universe.

“As a couple, they were adorable,” said Angel Williams, who first got to know them five years ago. “They were giggly and cute and talked every day over the phone. Their worlds kind of went around each other.”

Haddock, 42, who identified as nonbinary and used they/them pronouns, died from the fire after running into the home to try to retrieve personal belongings. The couple’s four pets, three cats and a rabbit, also perished in the fire.

Brink, who works as a postal clerk at the Chesterfield post office, survived the blaze, and was released from Cooley Dickinson Hospital on Wednesday after being treated for injuries.

The couple first met while they were students at Arkansas State University, before eventually marrying and moving to western Massachusetts. They originally rented a place in the Franklin County town of Colrain before purchasing the Thayer Road house, first built in 1826, in Cummington last year.

“That was their first home purchase together,” said Williams, who lives in Chesterfield and works as window clerk at the post office with Brink. “Shannon loved the house and they loved living in Cummington. They never really left the house unless Jaye took them out.”

Although Haddock had a shy and introverted personality, they also made a strong impression on anybody fortunate enough to make their acquaintance, friends said.

“When Shannon smiled, the room would light up,” Williams said. “They had that charisma, even though they didn’t put it out there.”

The cause of the fire remains undetermined, according to the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services, although investigators ruled out the possibility of an intentional act.

A GoFundMe has been set up to support Brink, with more than $6,000 currently raised out of the $10,000 goal.

“She has a real passion for knowledge,” said Mandy Spiess, the postmaster at the Worthington post office, about Brink. “Everything she puts her heart into, she works really hard at, and she’s got a really fun sense of humor.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.

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