r--

PAINFUL MEMORY

Tragedyrecalled2Syearslater

Thefire on NewYear'sEveday in 1978

claimedthelivesof5 familymembers.

ByKATHLEENE. MOORE,Staff writer

kmoore@repub.com

EAST LONGMEADOW - The fire that re-routed the course of David and Trish Hafey's livescame quickly and without warning. Panic was theonly thing they felt in the early hours of Dec. 31,1978.

The sadness would come later."When I woke up, I heard my brother Jimmy

screaming," said David F.Hafey, now 43."The air was so warm and thick when I went

into the hallway that I couldn't breathe. ... I

'Please see Hafey,Page AS---v-:- --. - .--~ b- -- -

(

ats~aJtohtlilof

evmlyeAcceiC01.

''\.

~r

Staff photo by DON TREEGER

David F. Hafey, left, and his sister,Patricia A. Hafey, of East Longmeadowhold a family portrait taken shortlybefore five members of their familyperished in a fire Dec. 31,1978.

~"""';

pr<HuTo]are

Ipo~boclife-inwhtdos.min'hewvessfonhigheng~

-~ 1::.~.. --.

...

G-

~cd~b()~rfl~

s,~>8,-1

os: 8~~~~

ifJ 0~..

t-..a:

88 ~'cd~u

Continued from Page AI

would have gone further, too,but 1didn't know where the firewas coming from and 1couldn'tsee," he said.

The fire that erupted in thebasement of the Hafey home at115 Elm St. traveled quicklythrough the old wooden struc-ture. Detected at 5:30 a.m., itconsumed the home within twohourS.

By 7:45 a.m., officials con-firmed that five of the home'sseven inhabitants had died ofsmoke inhalation, probablywithin minutes of its ignition.

"It was the worst fire, by far,in the town's history," said FireChief P. Robert Wallace. "We'dnever lost that many lives in onefire. Never."

Gone were William A. Hafey,52, his wife Therese, 50, theirsons William J., 20, and JamesJ., 12, and an aunt, Anne Dris-coll, 80.

Siblings Patricia A. "Trish"and David Hafey, then 22 and18, saved themselves by leapinginto the bitter cold from theirsecond-floor windows. Two oth-er siblings, Mary and Robert,were not at the Hafey home atthe time.

"I did go down the hall to getJimmy and 1 tried to go downthe back stairs barefoot, but theair was too thick. It was likehaving a bag over your head,"said Trish, now a teacher atBirchland Park Middle School.

"I remember touching my fa-ther and mother in the hallway. 1couldn't see them, but 1 knewthey were going to get my broth-ers," she said.

Many of the firefighters whofought the blaze knew the Ha-feys, as friends, neighbors, or aspatrons of the family's restau-rant, The Jaycox. The Hafeyname had long been associatedwith the family's funeral home,which was operated by rela-tives.

That familiarity proved heart-wrenching when the fire over-took the home.

''We tried, but there was noway humanly possible that wecould get in there," said ForrestR. Goodrich, then the EastLongmeadow fire chief and aneighbor ofthe Hafeys.~A couple of the call firefight-ers resigned afterwards becausethe emotions were too hard for

. them. All of the work 1had to doafterwards saved me from it. Itkept me busy," Goodrich said.

He said a testing lab later de-termined that the fire wascaused by contact between thehome's steam radiator and itswood frame. Over the course of

Republican file photo

East Longmeadow Fire Chief Forrest R. Goodrich, left,since retired, talks with David Hafey, 18, outside theboarded up Hafey home, after it was destroyed by fireDec. 31, 1978, claiming the lives of five family members.

several decades, the heat from life," David Hafey said. "Thatthe radiator had dried the wood, was the hardest part. How was 1making it easily combustible. going to make a lifefor myself?"The blaze spread quickly, he But shadows can't be castsaid, because the nearly centu- without a light source, and, so itry-old structure did not have fire was with-William and Theresewalls between floors. Hafey. In the 25years since their

Neither of those structural death, the couple's legacy hasconditions would be allowable cast a light upon the survivingunder modem building codes, children that has sustainedhe said. them.

Almost 1,000people attended "Tough times don't last," saidthe family's funeral Mass at St. Trish. "Tough people do."Michael's Parish, which was led Above all, William and Thereseby the Most Rev. Joseph F. Ma- Hafey impressed on their chil-guire, then bishop of the Roman dren the importance of family. ItCatholic Diocese of Springfield. was a gift that helped Mary,

Trish Hafey remembers she Robert, Trish and David survivedidn't have any clothes to wear the difficult days that lay ahead.to the funeral. They had all been Immediately after the fire, theburned in the fire. four siblings made a pact to re-

"It didn't matter, though, the main together for at least a year.only thing 1 could do for days David continued his studies atwas cry," she said. Stonehill College but, on semes-

To the world, William A. Ha- ter breaks, he returned to a newfey was a smart businessman - family enclave, the Springfieldthe.ownerof Springfield's Jay-. ,apartmentofhissisterMaryandcox Restaurant at the X and a' brother Robert. Trish movedformer director of his family's there. Everyone still helped outsuccessful funeral home. But for at the restaurant, and friendsthe Hafey children, he and were always close by.Therese were the glue that kept "Our friends grieved like wethe world together. did because they (William and

"You live in the shadow of Therese) were such good par-your parents, and, then, in the ents to so many people," Trishsnap of the fingers, they're gone, said.and you have to make your own "They (friends) kept telling us

You are here for a reason' whenNe didn't want to live. Now 1!mow that we are better and,tronger people because we didlive,"she said.

Memories of her happy child-hood prompted Trish to build ahome at 115 Elm St. three yearsafter the fire. Even without theoriginal house as a reference,Trish readily sees evidence ofher parents' influence on theproperty.

For instance, the built-in poolin the back yard was the resultof a proposition her parentsbrought before the children.

"They sat us down as a familyand had a vote on whether ornot we'd have a built-in pool,"she said. "They told us it wasgoing to mean a lean Christmas,but we got the pool."

And something else besides:all of the Hafey children wererequired to work on the installa-tion and upkeep of the pool.

"Myparents believed in work-ing hard and playing hard,"Trish said.

David smiles devilishly whenhe recalls some of the adven-tures his parents organized.There were raucous sailing tripsevery summer, when the patri-arch, William, would operate hisfamily's boat through even theroughest weather. During onetrip, the boat's tiller snapped offand the dingy broke loose. Hisfather made do.

"He was so resourceful," Da-vid now recalls. "And you knowthat resourcefulness carries methrough now, too."

Many of those memories re-volve around The Jaycox res-taurant, where hard work andlaughter went hand-in-hand.

"All of our friends workedthere," said Trish. "It was fungoing to work."

"I remember my mother tak-ing me through the restaurantwhen they bought it, introduc-,ing me to everyone who workedthere," said David, now a profes-sional caterer.

"And when we got to the dish-washer, she said, 'And t,hisis.the

most important person in therestaurant. Without him, wewouldn't be able to do any-thing.' "

David Hafey washed dishes atthe restaurant for nine years.

Neither Trish nor David Ha-fey will tell you that the last 25years have been without somevery dark moments. They haveboth looked to the heavens attimes and asked "Why?"

The answers don't alwayscome from above, though.Friends, family and the memo-ries of their close-knit family re-main their best solace.

''We have the most fantasticmemories, and they never die,"says Trish, breaking into asmile. "We still reminisce. Theywere great parents and theytaught us a lot."

Staff photo by BOB STERN

Retired East LongmeadowFire Chief Forrest R.Goodrich recalls the 1978tragedy last week in EastLongmeadow.