1944 — March 6, Rokey children die in home fire, York Beach, ME                          —       7

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 4-13-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–7  Daily Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME. “7 Children Perish in York Beach Fire.” 3-7-1944, 1

–7  Daily Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME.  “Services for Fire Victims.” 3-11-1944, p. 5.

Narrative Information

March 6, Associated Press: “York Beach, Me., March 6 – (AP) – Fire killed the seven children of a Portsmouth Navy Yard worker and razed their home tonight while their mother lay ill in a York hospital. All seven bodies were recovered late tonight from the blackened ruins of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Rokey’s cottage home facing the sea on Long Beach Boulevard. An adjoining cottage, unoccupied, also was destroyed. An eighth child of the Rokeys was killed by an automobile outside the home last October. The victims were: Evelyn, 13, lice, 11, John, 9, Beatrice, 7, Franklin, 5, Mary 3, and Dorothy, 11 months. The mother was not informed of the tragedy.

“Thomas Andrews, 33, who owned both cottages and who roomed with the Rokeys, was found by firemen on the piazza of the blazing building and was taken to a hospital suffering from burns.  Andrews told the firemen that the children were sleeping in the cottage. By then the flames were so fierce that it was impossible for the firemen to enter.

“Apparently, Fire Chief Harley G. Ellis said, the fire started from undetermined cause in the Rokey cottage and spread to the other building, which was only 20 feet in the rear.

“Rokey was at work when the fire broke out and his wife had been a patient in the York Village Hospital several days….”  (Daily Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME. “7 Children Perish in York Beach Fire.” 3-7-1944, p. 1.)

[The children were buried in a single grave on March 10. (Daily Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME. “Services for Fire Victims.” 3-11-1944, p. 5.)]

Sources

Daily Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME. “7 Children Perish in York Beach Fire.” 3-7-1944, p. 1. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=30647425&sterm=york+beach

Daily Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME. “Services for Fire Victims.” 3-11-1944, p. 5. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=30647475&sterm=york+beach