‘Didn’t want to be a bother’: Senior veteran had no AC for 1 month

By Stef Manchen

Click here for updates on this story

    TULSA, Oklahoma (KJRH) — The Lewiston Apartments have been home to Willette Sumbry-Deshields for nearly a decade.

Everything was fine at first, but as time went on, the senior veteran started to notice problems at the apartment complex mounting.

Most recently, and most critically, a broken air conditioner in the thick of Tulsa’s summer heat.

“I felt sad, you know, I didn’t want to complain,” said Sumbry-Deshields. “I didn’t want to be a bother, but I couldn’t live in here.”

She went without cool air for over a month.

Many calls were made to the apartment maintenance and leasing office, but Sumbry-Deshields was never given any help.

“I was calling and asking them to fix it, and they were just telling me, ‘Well, we have to call the corporate office to get approved to get it fixed; that’s the excuse I was getting,” she said. “So I would call back, and they would say, ‘I haven’t heard from corporate office.'”

Sumbry-Deshields told 2 News that property management has changed a number of times in the last few years, and she has been told that maintenance requests have been lost in transitions. With no relief from the heat, and no answers, Sumbry-Deshields relied on one of the only things she had left to trust.

“Trying to keep myself busy, but also praying, asking God, Lord, why?”

The heat became so unbearable that she resorted to sleeping in her car.

When she didn’t have appointments at the VA or other places to go, Sumbry-Deshields was spending time in her car blasting her AC.

She said she would try to come in at night, hoping with the sun being down that her home would have cooled off some. But, it was still 90 degrees inside.

Without notice, the maintenance crews fixed her air conditioning Monday. She had been without it for over a month.

While 2 News visited with Sumbry-Deshields, she pointed out a number of other problems that she’s been living with for years.

From mold in her closet and bathrooms to a faulty fridge and stove, her requests for maintenance have been dismissed.

When we walked into Lewiston’s leasing office, they directed us to contact their property management director of communications.

Kelly Frye told us that EastOak Property Management just took control of the complex on Aug. 1.

In that time, they have fixed more than 50 air conditioners.

In a statement, Frye said they “will continue to make needed improvements to the property until all our tenants have a comfortable place to call home.”

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.