The Fire: The Community Mourns

The Fire
November 24, 1927
North Lawrence, New York
Home of Walter and Ida Leary

In the previous post on the fire, I talked about the community's response to help the Learys. In the same article (from the Potsdam Courrier Freeman on 10/30/1927), it talks about how the community mourned the loss. I want to quote the article because I think it really shows how big of an event this was.

The funeral of the unfortunate victims was held Saturday morning and was very largely attended... Many people could not gain entrance to the church but remained outside until the close of the service... People were present from all of the surrounding towns. All business places were closed during the services.

The truth is, I am forever trying to wrap my head around this event. And this article is helping me see the scope of the tragedy - to really understand that is was one of the worst tragedies in the area ever. 

But my family persevered. Arthur went to seminary. Catherine went on to teach. Helen had a family and Barry had a family. And I can assume that the parents, Walter and Ida, took joy in watching their children succeed and getting to know their grandchildren and in the case of Ida, her great-grandchildren.

Also, in case you want to see the actual newspaper articles referenced in these two posts, you can find the article on the front page here and the continuation on page 3 here.