Grammy for 'Big Bad John' survives Dean home fire

But the lanky singer's signature boots and cowboy hats were all lost in the Monday fire that his wife, Donna Meade Dean, estimates could total in the millions. The fire's cause is not know, but it is believed to be accidental.

"He's still rather depressed," a weary-sounding Donna Meade said Thursday of her husband, who declined an interview request. "But we made it out all right."

Shaken but unharmed, the Deans fled their home high above the James River just south of Richmond in rural Varina. Three firefighters had minor injuries and caretaker Stefan Gunn was burned on both arms and hands when he dashed several times into the burning home to retrieve mementoes collected from Dean's half-century career.

The 31-year-old Gunn was able to grab the Grammy that Dean won for "Big Bad John" in 1962, autographed photos of presidents from John F. Kennedy to both Bushes, and celebrities, said Donna Meade Dean.

"He's an absolute hero," she said

Gunn played down the hero talk, saying he considered the Deans family and Jimmy the grandfather he never had. He said firefighters had to finally restrain him from returning to the burning home.

"It was a lifetime of memories in that house," Gunn said. "It was a museum."

Dean's career path followed an unlikely arc — from country crooner, to host of his own television show, a role in a James Bond movie and, ultimately, his more contemporary fame: breakfast sausages that bear his name. The sausage company he founded in Texas in 1969 was sold to Sara Lee Corp. in 1984.

An accounting of his possessions lost and found reflect his public life.

Saved was Jim Henson's Muppet Rowlf, created for Dean's '60s-era show, and Civil War relics, but lost were a grand piano and custom-made hats and boots and a grandfather clock. Still unaccounted: His beloved mother Ruth's accordion.

As wisps of smoke grew to clouds of acrid plumes, Donna Meade left her after-dinner dishwashing on Monday, grabbed her wedding ring, a laptop and their miniature poodles, Tara and Pepper, before guiding Dean out of the house.

Dean, who is 80, uses a walker these days, she said.

Donna Meade believes the fire started in the basement in an older section of their home, which is valued at $1.3 million, according to county records. She said insurance should cover their losses. "It's our haven," she said of their future plans. "We don't travel anymore."

The Deans are staying in a guest house on the property while they sort through their possessions.

"This is our first catastrophe," she said. "We're just emotionally — of course, we're distraught."

Fire investigators couldn't be reached Thursday.