Over the Memorial Day weekend, Sarah and I went to the cemetery to
decorate and place flags on family member's graves. As we usually
do, we took some time to walk about the graveyard looking at the
many tombstones and markers. We came across one that caught our
attention.
A unique triple arch stone engraved with three names of a young
man, a young woman and an infant, that all had the same date of
death. This seemed that it would have to be unique that three passed
on the same date.
After a little research on the internet, I found the story and a
tragic story it is. I'm sure some may remember this event but I sure
didn't. Bless that family.
Just thought I would share.
See below.
Six die in apartment fire in small Kentucky town
Sep. 12, 1997
CATLETTSBURG, Ky. (AP) _Fire swept through an apartment building
early today, killing six people, including a man and his 2-month-old
daughter who died after he jumped from the building with her in his
arms.
The girl’s mother also was killed in the fire, which authorities
said spread to two other buildings on the main street of this
northeastern Kentucky town.
A woman who also jumped from a window was hospitalized in fair
condition.
The man and infant were the only victims whose bodies had been
recovered by early this afternoon, said Rodney Raby, an assistant
state fire marshal. Four other bodies had been spotted inside the
gutted two-story building, and a rescue team was being brought in to
retrieve them. ``We believe all people have been accounted for,″
Raby said.
James Schmidt, an arson investigator for the fire marshal’s office,
said the baby’s mother also was killed. An elderly woman, her adult
son and a grandson were killed in another apartment, Schmidt said.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
Christina Lesoski, who lived across the street from the fire, said
she saw the father jump. She said Michael DeBoard hit the sidewalk
awkwardly, fell over backward and slammed his head on the pavement.
``What I saw that broke my heart was the father of an infant who
showed a lot of love,″ Lesoski said in tears.
Family members at the scene later confirmed that the baby,
2-month-old Cortney DeBoard, died at a hospital.
Police and fire officials had not confirmed the identities of either
of the survivors or the victims.
The fire, reported shortly before 5 a.m., started in a building
housing four apartments and a thrift shop and spread to two
neighboring buildings, said Deputy Fire Chief Charles Runyon. All
three buildings were a complete loss, he said
Family members remember fire victims
Sep 13, 2007
They lit candles. They listened to music. They talked. They
embraced.
They cried.
Mostly, though, they sat quietly, remembering loved ones lost in a
tragedy that occurred 10 years ago to the day.
On the morning of Sept, 12, 1997, fire ripped through three
buildings in downtown Catlettsburg, killing six. Four of the victims
died in apartments on the second story of a tan brick building in
the 2000 block of Central Avenue. Two others — Michael “Duck”
DeBoard and his 2-month-old daughter, Courtney — died trying to
escape from the building.
The other victims were Tara Petty, 17, DeBoard’s fiancee and
Courtney’s mother; Mary Jane Jenkins, 68, her son, Kenny Jenkins,
30, who lived with her, and Mark Lee Jenkins, 9, who was visiting
with his grandmother and uncle when the fire broke out.
At the time, the blaze was the deadliest fire in Kentucky since the
1977 conflagration at the Beverly Hills Supper Club, which killed
165. Investigators determined the fire was caused by an electrical
problem.
As they have done every year since the Catlettsburg fire, members of
the victims’ families gathered on the anniversary of the blaze,
which was Wednesday, for a candlelight vigil and memorial service at
the site of the tragedy. The spot where the buildings once stood is
a concrete parking lot.
Family members said it was difficult to believe that 10 years had
passed since that horrible day that changed their lives forever.
They also said the one bit of good that had come from the tragedy
was it had forged an unbreakable bond between the Jenkins and
DeBoard families.
“We’ll do this (hold a memorial) every year until we all die,” said
Mark Jenkins of Straight Creek. “It’s the only time we get to see
each other.”
Michael DeBoard’s sister, Edna Moyers, said even after 10 years, she
is still haunted by the memories of that day — particularly of
cradling her infant niece in her arms as she died.
At one point, Moyers walked away from the group and stood next to a
parking meter. It was at that spot, she explained, her brother’s
body was found.
Michael DeBoard jumped from a second-story window with his daughter
in his arms. He landed awkwardly, fell, struck his head on the
sidewalk and was killed instantly. Courtney also struck her head
when her father fell with her. The child died about 41/2 hours later
at King’s Daughters Medical Center.
Tyler Gillenwater was only 5 when his older brother, Mark Lee
Jenkins, perished in the blaze. Now 15 and a sophomore at Boyd
County High School, he said his brother’s death had left an enormous
void in his life.
“I miss him so much,” he said, sobbing uncontrollably. “It (having a
brother) was something I wanted so bad and that I had for such a
short time.”
Kathy McKinley, Mark Lee’s mother, agreed that in some respects, it
hardly seemed like 10 years since her son was taken from her.
“As far as seeing him or talking to him,” it seems like it’s been
forever,” she said, tears streaming down her face. “But, as far the
pain goes, it’s still like it happened yesterday.”
McKinley remembered her son as “a happy kid, really energetic.”
Tyler’s sister, Amber Gillenwater, 21, was in charge of picking the
music for the vigil. Some of the selections, she said, were songs
that were played at her family members’ funeral.
However, the song that seemed perhaps most fitting for the occasion
was one by Kenny Chesney called “Who You’d be Today,” which went, in
part:
“It ain't fair, you died too young
Like a story that had just begun
But death tore the pages all away.”
Site Of Fire Now A Parking Lot Catlettsburg Ky.
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