CENTRAL RECORD; DECEMBER 29, 1988 - NJ
HOLIDAY FIRE KILLS WOMAN
TABERNACLE - A festive holiday candle turned Christmas into a tragedy for a local woman.
Margaret Simons, 80, was found dead in the kitchen of her Mark Lane home shortly after 11 p.m. Christmas Eve. She had called firefighters to her home when a fire began around a bayberry candle in the living room of her wood frame home. Assistant county fire marshal Jim McKendrick said the woman apparently collapsed immediately after reporting the fire, and cause of death was determined to be smoke inhalation.
From the sound of the tape made when Mrs. Simons reported the fire, "She was very distressed," said McKendrick. The woman gave her address and phone number" and then that was it---the line went dead," he said.
When firefighters from the Medford Farms and Indian Mills district arrived on the scene, McKendrick said, Mrs Simon was lying face down on her kitchen floor near the back door. "It appeared she had become disoriented, because her back was toward the door," he said. "Had she fallen the other way, she would have fallen into an enclosed porch that sustained very little smoke damage."
There was smoke damage throughout the rest of the house, and fire damage in the living room, where the blaze appeared to have started, he said.
The bayberry candle that burned in the living room appeared to have ignited some papers and books on the floor beside it, Mckendrick said. The woman's cat, which was prone to jumping around between pieces of furniture "might have knocked the candle over," he said, "but unfortunately that is something we may never know."
The cat also died in the he fire, he said.
Personnel from the Hampton Lakes fire district covered for the squads responding to the fire.
Mrs. Simons was born in Westville and had also live in Runnemede and Vincentown. She was a retired dental technician and had also worked for the Red Cross in Woodbury. She was a member of the Tabernacle Methodist Church and the Ladies Aid Society, and was a former member of the Vincentown Grange.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Jesse Simons.
She is survived by her daughter, Jeanne Simons of Vincentown; a sister, Edith Halscheid of Nickelton; three grandchildren, Peggy Wilson of Tabernacle, Betty Datz and Mark Simons Jr., both of Vincentown; four great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.
Services were scheduled for 1 p.m. today (Thursday) at Dennison Funeral Home, 41 Main St., Vincentown. The Rev. Robert Reasner of Vincentown Methodist Church will officiate. Burial will follow in the Baptist Cemetery in Vincentown.
Visitation will be today from noon until 1 p.m. Memorial donations may be made to the Tabernacle Emergency Squad or the Medford Farms Fire Department, Route 206 and Hawkins Road, Tabernacle, NJ 08088.
HOLIDAY FIRE KILLS WOMAN
TABERNACLE - A festive holiday candle turned Christmas into a tragedy for a local woman.
Margaret Simons, 80, was found dead in the kitchen of her Mark Lane home shortly after 11 p.m. Christmas Eve. She had called firefighters to her home when a fire began around a bayberry candle in the living room of her wood frame home. Assistant county fire marshal Jim McKendrick said the woman apparently collapsed immediately after reporting the fire, and cause of death was determined to be smoke inhalation.
From the sound of the tape made when Mrs. Simons reported the fire, "She was very distressed," said McKendrick. The woman gave her address and phone number" and then that was it---the line went dead," he said.
When firefighters from the Medford Farms and Indian Mills district arrived on the scene, McKendrick said, Mrs Simon was lying face down on her kitchen floor near the back door. "It appeared she had become disoriented, because her back was toward the door," he said. "Had she fallen the other way, she would have fallen into an enclosed porch that sustained very little smoke damage."
There was smoke damage throughout the rest of the house, and fire damage in the living room, where the blaze appeared to have started, he said.
The bayberry candle that burned in the living room appeared to have ignited some papers and books on the floor beside it, Mckendrick said. The woman's cat, which was prone to jumping around between pieces of furniture "might have knocked the candle over," he said, "but unfortunately that is something we may never know."
The cat also died in the he fire, he said.
Personnel from the Hampton Lakes fire district covered for the squads responding to the fire.
Mrs. Simons was born in Westville and had also live in Runnemede and Vincentown. She was a retired dental technician and had also worked for the Red Cross in Woodbury. She was a member of the Tabernacle Methodist Church and the Ladies Aid Society, and was a former member of the Vincentown Grange.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Jesse Simons.
She is survived by her daughter, Jeanne Simons of Vincentown; a sister, Edith Halscheid of Nickelton; three grandchildren, Peggy Wilson of Tabernacle, Betty Datz and Mark Simons Jr., both of Vincentown; four great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.
Services were scheduled for 1 p.m. today (Thursday) at Dennison Funeral Home, 41 Main St., Vincentown. The Rev. Robert Reasner of Vincentown Methodist Church will officiate. Burial will follow in the Baptist Cemetery in Vincentown.
Visitation will be today from noon until 1 p.m. Memorial donations may be made to the Tabernacle Emergency Squad or the Medford Farms Fire Department, Route 206 and Hawkins Road, Tabernacle, NJ 08088.
CENTRAL RECORD; DECEMBER 29, 1988 - NJ
HOLIDAY FIRE KILLS WOMAN
TABERNACLE - A festive holiday candle turned Christmas into a tragedy for a local woman.
Margaret Simons, 80, was found dead in the kitchen of her Mark Lane home shortly after 11 p.m. Christmas Eve. She had called firefighters to her home when a fire began around a bayberry candle in the living room of her wood frame home. Assistant county fire marshal Jim McKendrick said the woman apparently collapsed immediately after reporting the fire, and cause of death was determined to be smoke inhalation.
From the sound of the tape made when Mrs. Simons reported the fire, "She was very distressed," said McKendrick. The woman gave her address and phone number" and then that was it---the line went dead," he said.
When firefighters from the Medford Farms and Indian Mills district arrived on the scene, McKendrick said, Mrs Simon was lying face down on her kitchen floor near the back door. "It appeared she had become disoriented, because her back was toward the door," he said. "Had she fallen the other way, she would have fallen into an enclosed porch that sustained very little smoke damage."
There was smoke damage throughout the rest of the house, and fire damage in the living room, where the blaze appeared to have started, he said.
The bayberry candle that burned in the living room appeared to have ignited some papers and books on the floor beside it, Mckendrick said. The woman's cat, which was prone to jumping around between pieces of furniture "might have knocked the candle over," he said, "but unfortunately that is something we may never know."
The cat also died in the he fire, he said.
Personnel from the Hampton Lakes fire district covered for the squads responding to the fire.
Mrs. Simons was born in Westville and had also live in Runnemede and Vincentown. She was a retired dental technician and had also worked for the Red Cross in Woodbury. She was a member of the Tabernacle Methodist Church and the Ladies Aid Society, and was a former member of the Vincentown Grange.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Jesse Simons.
She is survived by her daughter, Jeanne Simons of Vincentown; a sister, Edith Halscheid of Nickelton; three grandchildren, Peggy Wilson of Tabernacle, Betty Datz and Mark Simons Jr., both of Vincentown; four great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.
Services were scheduled for 1 p.m. today (Thursday) at Dennison Funeral Home, 41 Main St., Vincentown. The Rev. Robert Reasner of Vincentown Methodist Church will officiate. Burial will follow in the Baptist Cemetery in Vincentown.
Visitation will be today from noon until 1 p.m. Memorial donations may be made to the Tabernacle Emergency Squad or the Medford Farms Fire Department, Route 206 and Hawkins Road, Tabernacle, NJ 08088.
HOLIDAY FIRE KILLS WOMAN
TABERNACLE - A festive holiday candle turned Christmas into a tragedy for a local woman.
Margaret Simons, 80, was found dead in the kitchen of her Mark Lane home shortly after 11 p.m. Christmas Eve. She had called firefighters to her home when a fire began around a bayberry candle in the living room of her wood frame home. Assistant county fire marshal Jim McKendrick said the woman apparently collapsed immediately after reporting the fire, and cause of death was determined to be smoke inhalation.
From the sound of the tape made when Mrs. Simons reported the fire, "She was very distressed," said McKendrick. The woman gave her address and phone number" and then that was it---the line went dead," he said.
When firefighters from the Medford Farms and Indian Mills district arrived on the scene, McKendrick said, Mrs Simon was lying face down on her kitchen floor near the back door. "It appeared she had become disoriented, because her back was toward the door," he said. "Had she fallen the other way, she would have fallen into an enclosed porch that sustained very little smoke damage."
There was smoke damage throughout the rest of the house, and fire damage in the living room, where the blaze appeared to have started, he said.
The bayberry candle that burned in the living room appeared to have ignited some papers and books on the floor beside it, Mckendrick said. The woman's cat, which was prone to jumping around between pieces of furniture "might have knocked the candle over," he said, "but unfortunately that is something we may never know."
The cat also died in the he fire, he said.
Personnel from the Hampton Lakes fire district covered for the squads responding to the fire.
Mrs. Simons was born in Westville and had also live in Runnemede and Vincentown. She was a retired dental technician and had also worked for the Red Cross in Woodbury. She was a member of the Tabernacle Methodist Church and the Ladies Aid Society, and was a former member of the Vincentown Grange.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Jesse Simons.
She is survived by her daughter, Jeanne Simons of Vincentown; a sister, Edith Halscheid of Nickelton; three grandchildren, Peggy Wilson of Tabernacle, Betty Datz and Mark Simons Jr., both of Vincentown; four great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.
Services were scheduled for 1 p.m. today (Thursday) at Dennison Funeral Home, 41 Main St., Vincentown. The Rev. Robert Reasner of Vincentown Methodist Church will officiate. Burial will follow in the Baptist Cemetery in Vincentown.
Visitation will be today from noon until 1 p.m. Memorial donations may be made to the Tabernacle Emergency Squad or the Medford Farms Fire Department, Route 206 and Hawkins Road, Tabernacle, NJ 08088.
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