A Veteran New Orleans Firefighter Writes
ou guys did a great job on the book and I will definitely let others know about it. --Captain Ronald M. Beaulieu
The book was wonderfully written and I couldn’t put it down. You guys did a great job on the book and I will definitely let others know about it. --Captain Ronald M. Beaulieu
Hi Allen,
I’m thinking about the Winecoff Hotel fire today – as I know you are - and all of the people who perished and those who’s lives were forever changed. Interestingly, when I was earning my degree in Fire Science and graduate degree in Fire Protection Engineering, we never studied the Winecoff Hotel fire. It wasn’t until several years ago when I was working with Hyatt Hotels on improving their fire protection systems that I learned about the Winecoff Hotel.
But, equally as sad, I never read your book so, I’m going to make that right. I order it yesterday via Amazon and I’m looking forward to reading it over the holidays. Hopefully I order it from you – I want to make sure the authors are getting the profits.
Thank you for everything you’re doing to keep this important story in the forefront. I’ll be mentioning it today during my monthly training with my folks.
Regards,
David Combs, MS, CFPE, CFPS, CSP, CIT
Risk Control Specialist
FCCI Insurance Group
Allen Goodwin
Hi Mr. Goodwin,
My name is Ashley Webb and I am contacting you today because of your website and research regarding The Winecoff Hotel fire. My great-aunt, my maternal grandmother's sister, died in that fire.
Her name was Ruth Powell and she was there on what I believe was either a school or church chorus trip from Bainbridge, GA. That is unfortunately all I really know. My grandmother would never speak about it because it was such a traumatic time in her life.
Dear Mr. Goodwin
As I was three years old at the time, I don't remember the night but have gathered many stories and met people involved in the fire event. I want to recall the Winecoff story today and thank you and Sam Heys for all you have done to bring it to the attention of those of us who want to remember.
Mr Goodwin,
Lake Jackson, Texas
Ms. Fowler,
Well, YES! I'd be honored to care for the negatives. I'll share your find with our readers. I expect you learned reverence at an early age, moving into a home where tragedy had struck so recently and so completely. I'm sorry about the loss of your mother in 2014. I think it's really sweet that she held on to the negatives all her life.
Thank you,
Allen Goodwin
Update! Negatives received & processed. The Goodson family photos are here.
Hi... I really enjoyed your book, and have passed it on to my daughter.
It came up on my FB page. I grew up in Warm Springs GA and just love
anything about our great state.
Thanks,
Belinda
Dear Allen,
Your book arrived in the mail yesterday and I am well into it. In my eagerness to acquire more information about the fire, I didn't even take note that I had ordered it from an author! Only when I opened the book and saw the signature AND the date, did I realize it was from you!
My only connection to the fire is that my wife and I just spent the better part of the week of Dec. 12 at the Ellis Hotel, room 1110. While touring the Georgia Capitol, we saw an exhibit regarding the Winecoff fire and a photo of a survivor, etc. While I was in high school, I participated in a similar mock government experience as some of the victims.
I had never heard of the Winecoff fire and was a bit disappointed in myself that I hadn't. After being at the Ellis several days, I happened to swing around the corner of the building to read the plaque on the south side. Holy crap, THIS was the Winecoff! I then had a very enlightening conversation with one of the managers (I believe). He did seem a bit concerned that I felt safe. I did.
Regardless, it's a tragic story, but it served as motivation to build structures smarter.
My thanks to you for preserving this story and committing to the task. This involves time and work and should be acknowledged.
I am greatly enjoying this book and already recommending it to friends.
Ric Frambach
Dear Ric,
Thanks for writing. The Ellis Hotel is rigged out with all the latest fire safety technology today. But in 1946 there were no fire escapes, no fire alarms and no sprinklers. The hotel's operators are well aware of the building's history as are the men and women of the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department. Everyone minds their Ps & Qs during routine inspections. No one cuts any corners.
It's amazing and heartening really, seventy years after the Winecoff fire, those responsible for fire safety there today are so inspired to do their best.
All best,
Allen
Hi Allen,
I read your book "The Winecoff Fire" and it was excellent. I enjoyed the thorough and meticulous research that you and Sam did and all of the very detailed info that was included in the book. What an absolute tragedy that people thought there was such a thing as a "fireproof" building. While reading other stories about the Winecoff and Cocoanut Grove fires when I was a teenager, I knew I wanted to work in fire prevention, which is what I do now, so hopefully my contribution is somehow saving lives.
Thank you again for writing such an excellent book.
Sincerely,
Kathy Woofter
Thank you for your kind words and good work, Kathy!
All best,
Allen
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This Marietta, Georgia fire engine saw service at the Winecoff Hotel fire |
Good afternoon,
I've been reading about the Winecoff Hotel Fire for a couple of weeks now. I've been living in Atlanta for 5 years and never heard of this event. I stumbled upon your website and the facts about the Winecoff fire after hearing about it at the Ellis Hotel. I was visiting a friend from Tennessee who was staying there and we were both floored. I work at a law firm and have read about similar fires at The Station Nightclub and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and could not believe something this scale happened here in Atlanta. I stopped to look up at the building as I left the hotel and shivered.
I will be purchasing your book from Amazon this week. Thank you for your detailed and respectful website. I wish more Atlantans knew about this sad, pivotal chapter in our history.
Take care,
Ash
Dear Ash,
Thank you for your kind e-mail. Please write again as you learn more about the incredible tragedy that occurred right on Atlanta's most famous thoroughfare. For books click here.
All best,
Allen
Dear Mr. Goodwin,
I received my book yesterday and was pleasantly
surprised to note that you were thoughtful enough to sign it for me.
(Always
nice to have an autograph.)
I started the book last evening and was
immediately engrossed - you're not one for preliminaries.
I've been a
Casualty Claims Representative for various insurance carriers for the past 35
years and take an interest in these type of accounts.
I've noted that in most
cases of horrific loss of life from the Coconut Grove fire to the Station
nightclub (would direct you to John Barylick's"Killer Show") the root cause is
usually greed.
Again, I thank you for your courtesy and wish you all the best
in the future.
Sincerely,
Paul Bidus
Thank you for your kind e-mail and useful observations, Paul.
All best, Allen
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This photo page from The War Cry was recently discovered by Jeff Jellets (Click to Enlarge) |
Dear Mr. Goodwin,
I
am beginning to read your book about the Winecoff fire for a second
time. My great aunt, Nell McDuffie, was one of the survivors who was
originally interviewed for the book, and her brother, my Great Uncle
Walt McDuffie was one of the fire-fighters who responded that night.
I
do remember visits with my Aunt Nell and I remember her telling us about wrapping her head in
wet towels and climbing across a ladder to be rescued from the great
fire. Aunt Nell was such an interesting person. She died before I was truly old enough to ask the right questions
and appreciate the stories.
Hello, Mr. Goodwin:
I wonder if you have any Winecoff Hotel fire photographs of my father, Andrew (Andy) Babb of Winchester, Virginia.
He was injured in the fire, but survived.
He was in Atlanta on behalf of the National Fruit Product Co. of Winchester, VA. He was chief chemical engineer with the firm and looking at plans for a National Fruit plant being built somewhere in Georgia.
Years ago I saw a photo of Andy taken just after the Winecoff fire He was recovering in a hospital. There was a patch over his eye. Ironically, he was smoking a cigarette. Next to him was my aunt Roasalie Oakes of Atlanta. Rosalie and Andy had had dinner that night. She taught at Agnes Scott and rushed to the scene from her apartment after she hear the sirens.
Any information about this photo would be greatly appreciated.
Yours truly,
Labels: Eyewitnesses, Photographs
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Click To Enlarge |
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Dresser Recovered From The Winecoff Hotel |
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This Winecoff Hotel Room Is Believed To Be The Bridal Suite |
Dear Mr. Goodwin,
I just finished your book this weekend. I plan to reread it. It is REAL! It breaks your heart on one hand but makes you marvel at the human spirit on the other. I love the fact that the little boy whose father threw him to safety became a doctor like his dad had been. Thanks again for your book.
Belinda Seaman
Canton, Ga.
Dear Mr. Goodwin:
The book arrived today and is FABULOUS! Thank you so
much for signing
it. It's a present for my brother and I know he's going to
love it.
Thank you again.
Sincerely,
Sheryl Aumack
Ms. Aumack,
Thanks for the kind words and all best to you and your brother.
Allen
Mr. Goodwin,
I gave the book to my brother last night and he was over the moon, and your
signing it made it so much more special. Lately, due to rising gasoline costs he
has to take two buses and a train to get to work in another county and uses the
time to catch up on his reading. He does enjoy non-fiction, and in particular,
books on "disasters" (poor term, I know) especially when they are as thorough a
work as yours (really cover the history of the "situation" as well the the event
itself and the aftermath). I often read these after he does (he never tells me
anything that would spoil the reading) and I find I am enjoying these tomes as
well as I feel I learn many things as well, historically and on a personal level
with those that were involved.
Thank you again and wishing you all the
very best in the future.
Sheryl Aumack
Westchester, CA
I was living in Atlanta at the time of the Winecoff fire. My Grandfather, Paul Fleming, heard about it on the radio and went to volunteer.
You see, he had only retired shortly before from being an Assistant Chief of the Atlanta Fire Department and thought he could be a volunteer that knew how to help.
Although he liked to reminisce about his past in the fire department, he never talked about that day. Apparently, it was all too much even for an experienced man like him.
My mother was rather protective and I was only 6 years old so she wouldn’t have talked about it to me at the time.
At one time, my grandfather’s assignment had been inspecting buildings for fire violations. Mom said he once commented about the central staircase in that hotel. He said he worried about it because, if a fire ever got started, it would act like a chimney to carry the fire upwards and also block the escape route for about everyone.
Unfortunately, there was little that he could do about it except point out the problem because it was an existing building. Apparently, his concern was born out when the actual event occurred.
Paul Bowen
Manassas, Virginia
Dear Mr. Goodwin,
I was in the first grade living on Georgia Avenue, in what is today the parking lot of Turner Field at the time of the fire. I was 10 days short of my 8th birthday. There was a fire station about two blocks away on Central Avenue and fire sirens at night was not unusual. I recall how they went on for hours and the next morning we learned of the fire. My parents and I, like most of Atlanta, went to downtown to see the hotel.
I recall we took the trolley to town and there were thousands of people staring up at the building and the sheets were still hanging out of the windows. The smell was bad.
One thing I will never forget, is in the alley behind the hotel and the Mortgage Guarantee Building were trash cans filled with bloody sheets. That I remember vividly.
I was living in Washington State when your book came out and immediately made a purchase. I have read it many times and still find the fire fascinating. Thank you and your co-author for this work.
Michael Dunn
Dear Mr. Dunn,
Thanks for your kind words and for sharing your eyewitness account of the fire's aftermath.
Be safe,
Allen
Labels: Eyewitnesses
Lingering questions can lurk in the heart, un-answered. We've often found touching stories of teenage friends or even sweethearts left behind by the Winecoff fire.
Now, sixty-five years on, Charles Valentine writes to remember his high school sweetheart, his Bainbridge, Ga. classmates and the search that ended sadly.
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During her sixteen years Winecoff fire victim Maxine Willis touched many hearts. |
Fire victims Ruth Powell and Sue Broome |
Mr. Goodwin,
I've just learned of a distant relative's surviving this fire, which I knew nothing of. His name was Langdon Thrash. A photo of him in the hospital in Atlanta went out on the Associated Press wire and was subsequently published in several newspapers.
Survivor Langdon Thrash and nurse Gloria Horton were pictured on December 9, 1946 in the Atlanta Constitution and other newspapers. |
Labels: Photographs
Allen,
Just a quick thank you for working with my brother Mike on the newest addition to winecoff.org: A Mother's Poem Discovered. It's truly a beautiful memorial to Mary Lou Murphy and our Grandmother Pearl Cason Murphy. I sincerely appreciate it.
Kind Regards,
Pat Murphy
Dear Pat,
Heartbroken by the loss of her daughter, your grandmother used her own poetry to restrengthen herself and resume her life of giving. It could work for others. So...her giving continues.
Thanks for writing,
Allen
Dear Mr. Goodwin,
I just wanted to thank you for writing such a wonderful book. The fire took place almost 30 years before I was born, but you made me feel as if I was there. It's no longer 2011, but 1946 again and you can almost feel the fear, smell the smoke, hear the sirens and see the horror.
I suspect that is what you and your co-author intended when you wrote the book. I have had it for about 6 months now and I've read it twice.
I live in Adairsville, Georgia, which is about 15 miles east of Rome and really enjoy reading books on Georgia history.
So often in tragedies, people just become numbers but you made sure that each person was given a name and the enormity and pain of their loss is evident. So many wonderful people died that day. It is a sad story, but one that needed to be told and should not be forgotten. You did a great job!
Thank you so much for teaching me about a part of history that I had not known before.
Melissa Alred
This story I know well. My great aunt, Nell McDuffie lived and worked at the Winecoff. She pasted away in 1989.
Her brother Walter McDuffie was one of the firemen to fight the fire that night. When my aunt was still alive she told me the story of the Winecoff and how she climbed to safety across a latter to next building.
My mother has a bread platter from the hotel's china that my aunt got when she returned to her room after the fire. I have not read the book, but would like to very much.
Toby McDuffie
Toby, Your Great Aunt Nell was a huge help to Sam Heys and me during our book research. We came to know her well and liked her a lot! She was a vibrant woman with a sharp memory.
She was our "go to" source for details about the hotel's day to day functions. Plus, her own rescue story is one of the most compelling stories I've ever heard face to face. She had to be brave to crawl across that ladder over the alley way.
Hello.
My name is Anne Webb Desrosiers and I live in New Hampshire. I was born in 1941 in Atlanta. I was just speaking with an old Roosevelt High School friend and he reminded me of the horrible fire at the Winecoff Hotel. Both my grandfather and father were firemen present at the fire.
My grandfather was Assistant Fire Chief James Garnett Webb who was overcome by smoke and was taken to the hospital (as I remember being told) and my father was Garnett Pearson Webb. Not too sure of the numbers of the fire stations to which they were assigned.
My grandfather died in 1952 at the age of 64 and from what I remember, it was said that he never got over the physical problems he had endured at that fire. My father went on and retired from the Atlanta Fire Department in 1962 or 1963 and died in 1964 at the age of 49. Both died of heart attacks.
My memories of the fire are very vague as I was only 5 years old but I do remember the smell of the smoke and various cuts, burns and scratches on my dad when he got home the next day.
I intend to buy and read the book. Thank you. For years, I have wanted to remember and honor both my dad and grandfather and all the other firemen who fought that fire and had residual health, (both mental and physical) problems I believe caused by the fire.
Thank you again,
Anne Webb Desrosiers
Anne,
Thanks so much for writing! Thanks also for remembering for us two heroes of the Winecoff fire. We are familiar with Assistant Chief Webb's name as it appears in some of the accounts of the fire. We did not realize his son was also on the fire scene.
They were not the only father & son team to fight the fire. Richard & Relford Ellington fought it too. Many lives were saved thanks to the bravery of the Winecoff firefighters. All of them were affected for the rest of their lives.
Allen, --- Just reviewed your stories of the Winecoff Hotel Fire in Atlanta Dec. 7, 1946. I was stationed that night at the Naval Air Station barracks (North Atlanta Airport) near Doraville, as an incoming Veteran student on the G.I. Bill.
The first time I saw the results of the fire was on the next day when some of us came to town to see what had happened. Most of the debris had been cleared and the building was a burned out shell. I was struck by the silent immobility of the city, like time stood still.
What impressed me was that there was so little motion and stark silence in the streets especially Peachtree Street the next day as eventually things slowly came back to life. I remember how the entire city of Atlanta was stricken with grief as a result of the horror of that disaster.
As a soldier in Europe, I'd been in cities all over France, Belgium, Holland and Germany where destruction was rampant, but this was so different. Atlanta was stunned by this tragedy and people just seemed dazed by the impact of the horrible happening in their innocent peacetime city.
I thought I would thank you for doing tribute to those people you cover in your articles. I checked out your website and am very much impressed with the coverage from all the different sources.
One thing as a side issue are the videos you present. I am an avid student of southern accents. Here preserved for posterity, in your website, are those who speak with an authentic Southern Accent!
Thanks so much, --- Vaughn Wagnon --- Charlottesville, VA.
Thank you, Vaughn.
That calm that befell the city after the fire was, I suspect, a mixture of shock and respect for the fire's victims.
On Southern accents: there surely are a variety of them. Here in the Atlanta area you'll hear the Appalachian twang as you travel north and the South Georgia drawl if you travel south! And then there are the sub-groups. For better or worse, the accents instantly reveal much about the backgrounds of the speakers. I know mine could use a little polish!
You are fortunate, Vaughn. To my ear, nothing beats a refined Charlottesville or Charleston, SC. accent. All best, Allen
Labels: Eyewitnesses, Multi-Media, Photographs
Dear authors,
Thank you for your e-mail about the book.
Yes, I knew 8 people in the fire.
Dr. Bob Cox and his wife Billie, "Little Bob Cox", Delilah Chambers, Bob and Pauline Bault, Emogene Bates and her son Gene.
Dr. Cox worked for my father at the hospital in Murphy. He delivered me. Emogene Bates was my father's nurse. Bob and Pauline Bault were the parents of my best childhood friend from Murphy, NC. Their daughter, whom you refer to on p. 31,lives in Atlanta and we keep up with each other.
I was at the memorial service on December 7, 2007. We went to the funeral for Arnold Hardy that afternoon before the memorial service that night at The Ellis.
Bob Cox and his wife had flown in from Hays, Kansas. I had probably not seen Bob since the fire. I was two and a half at the time and he was three. My parents received Christmas cards from the Fishers in Kansas (who reared Bob), so I kept up with him that way - through pictures, etc.
Last Sunday, I was teaching Sunday School to my ladies class and it was appropriate to use things from the book and my experience at the memorial service with the class. Some of my friends had heard part of the story, but not much. They were so enthralled with the story, that I decided to order a book for them. Many want to read it. I didn't want to turn loose of my copy which you and Sam Heys both signed in 2007. It was a book that my mother had had.
The Baults and my parents were best of friends. Bob Bault built my parent's house and after my father died, my mother moved into the last house that the Bault's had lived in in Murphy.
The Baults lived right above my house in Murphy when I was a child. I lived right next to the hospital and Sally lived up on the hill above me.
Thank you for the research you have done on the fire. It is an amazing story.
Becky Haney
My father was John Newton Irwin. He was the adopted son of Frances and Winifred Irwin. I do not have the names of his birth parents as my grandfather refused to discuss it with me. My mother said that she was told my father's birth parents were a supreme court judge and an English nanny. When you think about it, I guess it was pretty important to keep those identities quiet.
My father was born on September 19, 1923 and died December 7, 1946, at the age of 23 in the fire of the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. I was one day shy of 3 months old at the time. He and my mother had been married only one year at the time of his death.
He served as a photographer in the Allied Air Forces, Southwest Pacific Area. He was the recipient of the Bronze Star Medal, 1st Oak-Leaf Cluster to Air Medal, 2nd Oak-Leaf Cluster to Air Medal, Good Conduct Medal, American Theater Ribbon, Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon with one Silver and one Bronze Service Star for Bismark-Archipelago, Luzon, New Guinea, Northern Solomons, Southern Philippines, and Western Pacific Campaigns; World War II Victory Ribbon, Army Air Forces Technician Badge with Photographer Bar, Aviation Badge, Aerial Gunner, and the Philippine Liberation Ribbon with one Bronze Star.
It is my understanding that the photographers accompanied troops on missions. The following is a quote from a letter received from George C. Kenney, Lieutenant General, Commander and written to my grandfather Frank E. Irwin on November 18, 1944 regarding the Bronze Star Medal award for heroic achievement against the enemy on Manus Island from May 25, 1944 to June 5, 1944:
Your son was a member of a photographic party of three men who volunteered to make a pictorial record of the hardships and dangers encountered by ground troops on jungle patrols, armed with only .45 calibre automatics, and heavily laden with photographic equipment, they traveled with a ten-day patrol over mountainous country, through five malarial mangrove swamps, and across four crocodile-infested streams. On one occasion your son accompanied a four-man group engaged in a wire-laying mission, during which they twice surprised parties of Japanese. In the first encounter, your son wounded an enemy soldier twice, and the second time, he killed one who was charging another photographer. The heroism and devotion to duty displayed by your son are worthy of commendation.
My mother told me that when he was home he would take me out in my baby carriage and show me off to everyone he met. It makes me so sad every time I think of him and I have always wondered how my life would be different if he had lived. It is heartbreaking to think that he went through wartime without injury only to come home, go away on a business trip, and die in a hotel fire.
Although she (my mother) didn't give me many details, she did say that there was a lawsuit against the Winecoff Hotel and she and her father (John Godbout) received a very small settlement, but only after being subjected to humiliation in the courts and even being called "carpetbaggers." I can only imagine what she must have gone through as a young widow, trying to raise a baby daughter on her own.
Pam Windspirit
Dear Pam,
Strong public reaction to the Winecoff fire forced congress, state legislatures and parliaments around the world to upgrade fire safety codes. Your father is remembered for his service to others. In World War II, to millions of Americans. In his peace, to billions the world over.
Be safe,
Allen
Mr. Goodwin,
Thank you so much! I have read your book several times and am very excited to give it as a Christmas gift this year.
Eight of the people killed in the fire were from my high school’s (Bainbridge High School) Y-Club - seven students and one teacher - who were in the town for the annual Tri-Y Youth Conference, the same conference I attended every year in junior high and high school. My Y-Club chapter was named after the teacher, Mary Davis. Bainbridge, Georgia is a very small town, and everyone in one way or another has a connection to one of the eight. In high school, I found your most fascinating book on my parents' bookshelf and have read it many times over the years.
My future father-in-law is an architect who works here in downtown Atlanta and loves Atlanta history. When I mentioned the fire recently, he didn't know many details about it, so your book is going to be a wonderful, enjoyable gift for him.
Thanks again for the quick response, I truly appreciate it. Happy Holidays!
Maggie Rentz
Atlanta, Georgia
Maggie,
Thanks so much for your e-mail. The Winecoff fire's impact on Bainbridge is legendary and worthy of further study. Look for more Bainbridge related stories on winecoff.org in the months ahead.
Be safe,
Allen
St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Blue Ridge, Georgia
Dear Mr. Goodwin,
I recently ordered your book from Amazon and must tell you that I couldn't put it down. The signed copy arrived in the post on Saturday and by five o'clock the book was read. What prompted me to order it was being in Atlanta at a theological conference the week before and standing looking up at the Winecoff (Ellis) at night.
I first learned the story of the Winecoff fire in the '90s when an elderly woman in McCaysville (not far from Ducktown, the home of one of the victims) gave me a copy of the Atlanta Constitution featuring the now-famous picture of the woman falling.
I am writing to say you and your co-author did a masterful job in telling a story that needed to be told.
The Rev.) Victor H. Morgan
Rector
St. Luke's Church, Blue Ridge, Georgia
Dear Reverend Morgan,
Thanks so much for your kind words about our book! When you keep your ear to the ground it doesn't take long to find living links to the Winecoff fire. Remember, we are always on the lookout for photos of the fire's victims and survivors to further humanize the story.
Thanks for writing,
Allen
Hi Mr. Goodwin,
My name is Chester Wallace and I just got done reading The Winecoff Fire and I must say this is one of the most interesting reads! I want to thank you for writing this very intriguing book and sparking my interest in this terrible tragedy.
Thanks!
Chet Wallace
Dear Chet,
I couldn't have done it alone! Without Sam Heys the book would still be a hundred pounds of research materials in cardboard boxes!
Be safe,
Allen
Dear Mr Goodwin:
I just wanted to let you know how interesting I found your book.
I was 12 years old and living in Cartersville, Georgia when the Winecoff burned. My father had just died and on that fateful day, his brother and wife came to take my mother and me Christmas shopping in Atlanta.
About half way there my mother opened the newspaper she had brought along and read about the fire. The adults debated about continuing but decided to do so. Our first stop was always Davison-Paxon's. We saw the Winecoff only hours after the fire had been extinguished.
I am 76 now but that sight has never left my mind. Over the years I have come in contact with people who had some connection to the fire. In my own church there is a lady who survived the fire and a man who was supposed to go to the Youth Assembly but could not due to illness. The boy who replaced him perished in the fire. I have not discussed the fire with them out of respect for their privacy.
Thanks so much.
Carol Lowery
Dear Carol,
Thanks for sharing your story.
Allen
Labels: Eyewitnesses
I ordered your Winecoff Fire book this past Tuesday night through Amazon.
I was born and grew up in Atlanta. I was only six when the fire occurred. That Saturday / Sunday afternoon (?), after the fire, Dad had to drop off some reports at his work place on Luckie Street. I rode down with him and, after dropping his reports, we went by the fire scene before heading home.
I can picture Dad and I stepping over rows of fire hoses as they lay running down hill to drain and dry out as we tried to get closer to the burn site. The building was still smoking and the firemen were gathering up their equipment. I remember it being eerily quiet while we were there.
As a six year old, I was more interested at the time in jumping the hoses than learning of the seriousness of what had happened earlier. It was many years later before I really became aware of what had happened that morning.
I bought a copy of your book some years ago and read it several times. Later I told former classmates about your book and; after they read it, some wrote back about members of their own families being on fire trucks who answered the call. I was just an observer that weekend; but I have found out over the years how this tragedy effected families throughout Georgia.
The recent death article of Clarence Luther Leathers, Sr. (96), who was a responding fireman that morning, spurred memories of the stories of the fire. I must have lost my earlier copy of your book during one of my moves; so I'm replacing it now.
The fire touched many lives in different ways. So many innocent lives lost.
Bill Stewart
Gatlinburg, TN 37738
Mr. Stewart,
Thanks for sharing your story with me. You are, I think, the youngest eyewitness to the fire scene - with a living memory of it - that we've heard from.
Survivor Richard Hamil (room 1524) was nine years old. We've spoken with him many times. The two other child survivors that we know, Bob Cox (age 3, room 1002) and Connie Foster (age 1, room 508) were too young to have any memories of the fire today. We've spoken with many who were teens at the time.
Be safe,
Allen
Labels: Eyewitnesses
Dear Mr. Goodwin,
I recently purchased your book as a memento to read with my father. My father was Clarence Leathers and until recently, he was the oldest retiree from the City of Atlanta Fire Department. However, he passed away June 12, 2010 before I could give him the book. I know you interviewed Rick Roberts who also was a fireman at the Winecoff. There had been an article in the retiree newsletter asking if anyone else remembered working the Winecoff and that Rick Roberts would like to talk to them.
Well, my dad had a nice chat with him. Rick had thought that, at 93, he was the oldest retiree, but my dad had turned 96 in April. Last month, I was able to record less than a minute about what he did at the Winecoff and he stated that he carried hoses up to the other fireman and then they also tried to extinguish the fire. I wish that he could have spoken to you.
When I was growing up, I remember my mother, (who died in 1973) stating that this particular fire was traumatic to many of the firemen. She stated that so many people jumped from the burning hotel and that my dad would wake up sometimes to the sound (in his mind) of bones popping and to the smell of charred flesh. He never talked about the fire with me though other than when he mentioned being at it with the other firemen.
I am finishing your book now. My dad's obit should be in the Atlanta paper tomorrow. He will be buried at Westview Cemetery on Wednesday, June 16 and visitation will be at the Whitley-Garner at Rosehaven, Douglasville, GA on Tuesday between 6-9. I don't know how many firemen are still alive and will be able to attend the services. But I appreciate your writing the book so that I could get an idea of the fire that I only saw paper clippings about.
Thank you,
Vera Leathers Ankrum
Allen,
I received the book I purchased from you about the Winecoff Hotel fire. It arrived in great shape, and I appreciate your signing it. I was glad to find it on eBay. I read a few pages last night, and I’m already hooked! Compiling the stories of so many people from a time gone by is not an easy feat, but you have done a fine job in structuring the tale.
My interest in the hotel’s history, incidentally, was sparked by a recent stay at the Ellis. Although I am an Atlanta native, I had no knowledge of the Winecoff fire. In fact, I managed to stay oblivious to the events of 1946 throughout my stay at the Ellis. It was not until I was later describing our hotel to my father and stepmother, who live in Ballground, Georgia, that I learned of the fire. They both made the connection to the Winecoff and did a pretty good job of recounting the history. For them to each have such good and independent memories of the fire is a testament to the significance of the event.
Thank you, again, for the excellent eBay service and for your detailed preservation of an important moment in Atlanta history. I look forward finishing the book!
Sincerely,
EdThanks, Ed.
The Winecoff fire story is unknown to many Atlantans. That's no accident. Big fires are bad for business. By 1947 Atlanta's business and political leaders felt that the sooner the whole thing was forgotten, the better. The mayor even ordered the Winecoff's large sign, still affixed to the side of the building, taken down, condemning it as a grim reminder of the fire. Plus, almost everyone who had any direct involvement with the sudden tragedy had reason to want to forget it. Everyone wanted to put it behind them. Still, they were all affected for the rest of their lives. It simply couldn't be forgotten but couldn't be discussed either! I expect your folks remember vividly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news of the fire. Almost everyone we interviewed during our years of research recalled exactly where they were that day. Like the Kennedy assassination and the World Trade Center attacks, this was Atlanta's Titanic.
Labels: Photographs
Mr Goodwin,
I read your book some time ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Yesterday, I rode the elevator up to the top of the Ellis. Walking through the halls of the hotel--the same floor design as the Winecoff was eerie. I'm glad to finally see a successful hotel in its building. Every time I go to Atlanta I drive by the Winecoff.
Charles Newberry
Gray, GA
Mr. Newberry,
Thanks for your e-mail. Like you, I'm so pleased that the building is again being put to good use. I'm glad you got to look around inside the building.
I know that eerie feeling the halls can give but I think that's because we know so much about the day of the fire and not so much about the happier days there from 1914-1945.
We know from our interviews with long time Winecoff Hotel employee Nell McDuffie that there were many days of joy and grace within those walls. It was, after all, a first class hotel for most of those years hosting wedding events, honeymoons, business and charity luncheons, family reunions and all the things that give fulfillment to our lives.
It's sad that one act of cruelty can define a site for sixty-odd years and push aside in our minds everything else that happened there. But, by-in-large, that's what's happened.
Thankfully, more good days are underway and more pleasant memories are now being made at the Ellis Hotel.
Be safe,
Allen
Labels: Photographs
Robbie June Moye's Rocking Chair |
Robbie June Moye In Her Rocking Chair - Circa 1930 |
.Dwight Morrison, Sandy & Russ Newbury
Allen,
My friend Rob kindly contacted you about my hunt to determine the name of the victim who was my Dad's good friend. We've figured out his name was Dwight Morrison, the World War II bomber pilot mentioned in your book. My Dad's name was Russ Newbury and he and my Mom lived in Decatur at the time of the fire. He had always told us that he raced downtown when he learned of the fire and identified his friend's body. I'm sending you a picture of Dwight with my mother and father, Russell and Sandy Newbury, for your files.
All we really know is that my father was travelling that week and wasn't due home until around 4 in the morning, so they had planned to visit with Dwight the next day, had not seen him yet. My mother felt guilty until the day she died because she always thought that if my dad had not been travelling, Dwight might have stayed with them at their house instead at a hotel (the mores of the day, you know - it wouldn't have been fitting). My father wouldn't talk much about the war. He landed on Omaha on D day and we didn't find this out until last year - and only because my brother visited Normandy last summer and discovered it! But, the few stories he shared were of "escapades" with Dwight. He sounds like such an amazing man and was such a great loss to the world. I know my parents were devastated.
I found your book so interesting! I raced through it the first time and will have to reread it to really absorb the totality of it all. My tears flowed so many times as I read. Knowing my Dad was one of those grimly searching for his friend . . .
Sincerely,
Janet Newbury Daurity
Myrtle Beach SC
Dear Janet,
Thanks for the photo and we can confirm the man on the left is Major Dwight Morrison. (Room 1026). America lost one of her heroes in Dwight Morrison. He survived sixty-five bombing missions over Europe only to perish in the Winecoff Hotel fire upon his return. Sadder still is the fact that he left behind a wife, Hilda, and a son born in February 1947, two months after the fire.
To the good, Dwight Morrison and the other 118 victims of the Winecoff fire inspired the fire safety codes the world relies on. Thanks for thinking of him.
All best,
Allen Goodwin
Labels: Photographs
Mr. Goodwin: Thank you so much for the book. However, I must admit that I already had a copy. On a recent bus trip I met a young lady in her 80's. She remembered hearing about the fire and asked if she could borrow my book. The trip ended before she could finish it, so I lent her my copy. That being the case, I just had to have another copy for myself.
I am absolutely "hooked" on this book. I've read it so many times, and yet I'm drawn back to it over and over again. I know it sounds strange, but I think sometimes those lost in that fire are reaching back to us, asking that someone remember them.
No matter how many times I read it, I seem to find something else that I didn't notice before. Thank you, Mr. Goodwin. You and Mr. Heys did a beautiful job. I'm sure that I will continue to enjoy this book, no matter how many times I read it.
Marjorie Wedincamp
Hi Marjorie,
Thanks for your kind and flattering e-mail.
Hooked on our book?!! Sounds like you've got what Sam Heys and I call "The Spirit".
The story of the Winecoff fire is compelling. Few subjects can grip one's imagination so fully...and permanently! The victims do seem to speak to us because we can see our own virtues and weaknesses in their various reactions to the fire.
Over the years Sam and I have heard from many victims' families who've thanked us for remembering their loved ones. It's humbling.
Kind e-mails like yours are equally humbling. Thank you.
Be safe, Allen
Hello Mr. Goodwin,
I received your book today. I know that it is a good book as my husband and I bought the book when it was originally published. We enjoy reading, especially history. Your book was particularity interesting to us as we are both natives of Atlanta. Unfortunately, I loaned my first edition copy to someone and never got it back. Something brought the book to my husband's mind the other day and I was happy to learn that I could still get a copy.
This book will be very special to us having your autograph. I'll not loan this one to anyone!
We are looking forward to reading your book again. As I was looking on line to see if I could find the book, I enjoyed reading all the information that you have provided on your website. The pictures and stories are heartbreaking yet so intriguing. I know that the victims and their families lives changed forever and the victims' families must surely still be affected at present, as they are connected to such a well known part of Atlanta history.
We have no relatives that were involved, just an interest in the story.
My husband was born in '46 and I was born in '58. The Winecoff fire is something that we have always heard about and became interested in learning more about it. I find it ironic that it happened on the same date as Pearl Harbor.
Thank you very much for sending the book right away. I also want to thank and congratulate you for producing such a well written book. In reading your book the reader can tell how much effort, and research went into it. This is appreciated by people that enjoy reading as we do.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Janie P. Wilson
Hi Ms. Wilson,
I'm glad you found our website: winecoff.org . I'm also glad you'll have a 3rd edition copy of our book. The first edition was so full of typos it's embarrassing!
Be safe,
Allen