Massachusetts assisted-living blaze kills a musician, secretary, and veteran Army sharpshooter
The 100-unit assisted-living facility that burned Sunday night, killing nine people so far, opened in 1999. Some photos on its Facebook page show neat rooms but older-looking carpeting and furniture. Her granddaughter didn't like the assisted-living center, but 86-year-old Eleanor Willett wanted something that left her money to play the slots at a casino. She earned too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford a higher-priced assisted-living facility, Holly Mallowes told The Associated Press Tuesday.
'She said, 'I don't need much, but a roof over my head and someplace to put my sewing machine,'' Mallowes said.
Willett was the oldest to die. Here's what we know so far about the victims.
Eleanor Willett
A Massachusetts native, Willett spent more than 20 years as a secretary and even worked briefly as a cocktail waitress, her granddaughter said.
Her home was always a base for everyone in her family, Mallowes said.
'My mom worked a lot and Grammy's was always a place we called home,' said Mallowes, 45. 'We lived with her often. She was very strong. She outlived two husbands and raised five children. She was absolutely a joy.'
Mallowes, a paralegal who lives in Dartmouth, described her grandmother as 'very religious' and a 'devout Catholic.'
'She wanted to be somewhat independent,' Mallowes said of Willett's decision to move to Gabriel House in Fall River, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Boston. 'To leave her home alone all day, I was to afraid something might happen.'
'As our grandparents and parents get older, we say 'I'll make it to go see them a different day' and you always put it off,' Mallowes said. 'See them while you can. Tomorrow is not promised.'
Kim Mackin
Makin, 71, was a violist who performed in Boston area orchestras, according to her nephew, Austin Mackin.
She was described in a statement from family members as 'gifted beyond words.'
'We will all miss Kimmy,' the statement read. 'Beyond being exceptionally kind, few knew that she was a brilliant musician.'
Kim Mackin received a full scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music and after graduating, toured the world as first chair viola.
Wednesdays
Columnist Jen Zoratti looks at what's next in arts, life and pop culture.
Richard Rochon
Breonna Cestodio described her 78-year-old uncle, Rochon, as 'a very quiet guy,' yet a 'great guy.'
'He kept to himself,' she told reporters. 'He was a sharpshooter in the Army. He loved getting visits from all of his nieces and nephews.'
Rochon moved into Gabriel House about a year ago. Cestodio had little good to say about the facility, remarking that it always seemed hot inside the building.
'Every time you visited him, he was sweating,' she said. 'No air in the building. I never saw any workers, except in one closed-off section. I never saw any workers.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
4 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Timeline: Grim history of Ireland's mother and baby homes
Exhumation of a mass grave has begun in Tuam, Ireland, at the site of a former mother and baby home — one of several that once operated across the country. The burial site, which could hold the remains of nearly 800 infants and young children, has forced the country and the Catholic Church to contend with its decades-long legacy of shunning unmarried mothers and separating them from their children left at the mercy of a cruel system. Extensive maltreatment that contributed to the deaths of thousands of children has been gradually revealed over time. Here is a timeline of developments related to Ireland's network of mother and baby homes. 1800s 1846 — The Tuam workhouse opens on six acres to house 800 'inmates' who were destitute. 1900s 1921 — County Galway opens a mother and baby home in a former workhouse in Glenamaddy that is run by Bon Secours Sisters, a Catholic religious order. 1922-23 — The home is occupied by British troops during the Irish Civil War. Six members of an Irish Republican Army faction that opposed the treaty ending the war were executed there in 1923. 1925 — The Children's Home in Glenamaddy closes and reopens in the converted Tuam workhouse as a home for. 1961 — The Tuam home closes. 1970s — Two boys discover bones in an underground chamber on the grounds of the derelict home. Locals believe the grave includes victims of the Irish famine and create a memorial garden. 2000s 2012 — Local historian Catherine Corless publishes an article in the Journal of the Old Tuam Society that reveals many children died in the home. She later finds records of 796 deaths with no burial records. She reveals that the bones found in the 1970s were in the location of a defunct septic tank. May 2014 — The Irish Mail publishes a story about nearly 800 unaccounted dead babies at the home and the possibility some are buried in the sewage tank. International news coverage leads to a public outcry. June 2014 — The Irish government announces it will investigate mother and baby homes across Ireland, including Tuam. February 2015 — The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes is formally established. March 2017 — A test excavation by the commission confirms 'significant quantities' of human remains of infants in underground chambers at the Tuam site. Tests show they ranged from 35 weeks to three years old. 2018 — The Irish government pledges to carry out a full forensic excavation and enact legislation to allow for the recovery and potential identification of remains. October 2018 — Government officially approves a full forensic excavation of the Tuam site. The cost is estimated at 6—13 million ($7-15 million) euros. January 2021 — The Commission's final report finds that about 9,000 children died in 18 institutions, including Tuam, from 1922 to 1998. Prime Minister Micheál Martin issues a state apology. 2022 — Ireland passes the Institutional Burials Act, giving legal authority to excavate, recover, and identify remains from sites such as Tuam. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. 2023 — The Director of Authorised Intervention is established to oversee the Tuam excavation. June 11, 2025 — The site is secured, and pre-excavation work begins. July 14, 2025 — The excavation team begins its dig to recover remains. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Winnipeg Free Press
5 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘Chamber of horrors' being exhumed at Ireland mass baby grave
TUAM, Ireland (AP) — Only one stone wall remains of the old mother and baby home in this town, but it has cast a shadow over all of Ireland. A mass grave that could hold up to nearly 800 infants and young children — some of it in a defunct septic tank — is being excavated on the grounds of the former home run by the Bon Secours Sisters, an order of nuns. The burial site has forced Ireland and the Catholic Church — long central to its identity — to reckon with a legacy of having shunned unmarried mothers and separated them from their children left at the mercy of a cruel system. The grave was accidentally discovered by two boys a half century ago. But the true horror of the place was not known until a local historian began digging into the home's history. Catherine Corless revealed that the site was atop a septic tank and that 796 deceased infants were unaccounted for. Her findings caused a scandal when the international news media wrote about her work in 2014. When test excavations later confirmed an untold number of tiny skeletons were in the sewage pit, then-Prime Minister Enda Kenny called it a 'chamber of horrors.' Pope Francis later apologized for the church's 'crimes' that included forced separations of unwed mothers and children. The nuns apologized for not living up to their Christianity. A cold, cramped and deadly place The homes were not unique to Ireland and followed a Victorian-era practice of institutionalizing the poor, troubled and neglected children, and unmarried mothers. The Tuam home was cold, crowded and deadly. Mothers worked there for up to a year before being cast out — almost always without their children. Corless' report led to a government investigation that found 9,000 children, or 15%, died in mother and baby homes in the 20th century. The Tuam home — open from 1925 to 1961 — had the highest death rate. Corless said she was driven to expose the story 'the more I realized how those poor, unfortunate, vulnerable kids, through no fault of their own, had to go through this life.' Discovering deeply held secrets Corless' work brought together survivors of the homes and children who discovered their own mothers had given birth to long-lost relatives who died there. Annette McKay said there's still a level of denial about the abuse, rape and incest that led some women to the homes while fathers were not held accountable. 'They say things like the women were incarcerated and enslaved for being pregnant,' McKay said. 'Well, how did they get pregnant? Was it like an immaculate conception?' Her mother ended up in the home after being raped as a teenager by the caretaker of the industrial school where she had been sentenced for 'delinquency' after her mother died and father, a British soldier, abdicated responsibility. Her mother, Margaret 'Maggie' O'Connor, only revealed her secret when she was in her 70s, sobbing hysterically when the story finally came out. Six months after giving birth in Tuam in 1942, O'Connor was hanging laundry at another home where she had been transferred when a nun told her, 'the child of your sin is dead.' She never spoke of it again. Some 20 years later, a Sunday newspaper headline about a 'shock discovery' in Tuam caught McKay's attention. Among the names was her long-lost sister, Mary Margaret O'Connor, who died in 1943. Shame's long shadow Barbara Buckley was born in the Tuam home in 1957 and was 19 months old when she was adopted by a family in Cork. She was an adult when a cousin told her she'd been adopted and was later able to find her birth mother through an agency. Her mother came to visit from London for two days in 2000 and happened to be there on her 43rd birthday, though she didn't realize it. 'I found it very hard to understand, how did she not know it was my birthday?' Buckley said. 'Delving deep into the thoughts of the mothers, you know, they put it so far back. They weren't dealing with it anymore.' She said her mother had worked in the laundry and was sent away after a year, despite asking to stay longer. Her lasting memory of the place was only being able to see the sky above the high walls. At the end of their visit, her mother told her it had been lovely to meet her and her family, but said she'd never see her again. Buckley was devastated at the rejection and asked why. 'She said, 'I don't want anyone finding out about this,'' Buckley said. 'Going back to 1957 — and it was still a dark secret.' Luck of the Irish Pete Cochran considers himself one of the lucky ones. He was 16 months old when he got out of the home and was adopted by a family in the U.S., where he avoided the stigma that would have dogged him as a so-called illegitimate child in his homeland. During his visit to Tuam before the dig began, a man from town told him at a bar: 'I respect you now, but growing up, I used to spit on you because that's what I was taught.' Cochran hopes the dig turns up few remains. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. 'I hope they don't find 796 bodies,' he said. 'That all these children were adopted and had a good life like I did.' McKay has had the same hope for her sister. But even if they found a thimble full of her remains, she'd like to reunite her with her mom, who died in 2016. 'The headstone hasn't got my mother's name on it because I fought everybody to say I refuse to put my mom's name on until she can have her child with her,' McKay said. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Winnipeg Free Press
11 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
FACT FOCUS: No, Oprah Winfrey didn't block access to a private road amid tsunami warning evacuations
Even as the threat of a tsunami swamping Hawaii had passed on Wednesday, social media posts were still circulating claims that Oprah Winfrey had refused immediate access to a private road that would allow residents a shorter evacuation route. The warnings followed one of the century's most powerful earthquakes, an 8.8 magnitude quake that struck off a Russian peninsula and generated tsunami warnings and advisories for a wide swath of the Pacific. Posts on X and TikTok contended Winfrey refused to open her private road, or was slow to do so during the evacuation. But the roadway does not actually belong to Winfrey, and efforts to open the road to the public started soon after the tsunami warning was issued. Here's a closer look at the facts. CLAIM: Winfrey owns the private road and refused to allow public access for residents trying to reach higher ground, only relenting following public pressure. FACT: This is false. Despite being commonly known as 'Oprah's road,' the portion of Kealakapu Road is privately owned — but not by Winfrey. It belongs to Haleakala Ranch, which also owns the land surrounding the road, its president Scott Meidell told The Associated Press. Winfrey has an easement agreement with the ranch, which allows her to use and make certain improvements to the road, her representative told the AP in a statement. Winfrey has paved the road as part of the agreement, Meidell said. The decision to open the road to the public is principally up to the landowner, Winfrey's representative noted. Meidell said Haleakala Ranch 'had conversations with Ms. Winfrey's land management staff during this process. So, they're consulted to be sure.' Haleakala Ranch contacted the local fire department and the Maui Emergency Management Agency just after 3 p.m. local time, shortly after the tsunami warning went into effect, Meidell said. The road was made accessible shortly after 5 p.m., he said, and ranch personnel assisted in the evacuation of around 150 to 200 vehicles until the final group of cars were escorted up the road at 7 p.m. Maui County officials said in a press release shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday that 'Oprah's road' was accessible to the public, an advisory repeated in a 9:30 p.m. update. But Meidell said further evacuations weren't necessary after 7 p.m. because police had confirmed 'at that point the highway was completely empty of traffic.' Maui police and the Maui Emergency Management Agency did not immediately return the AP's requests for comment. 'As soon as we heard the tsunami warnings, we contacted local law enforcement and FEMA to ensure the road was opened. Any reports otherwise are false,' a representative for Winfrey wrote in a statement first disseminated to news outlets Tuesday night. The decision to open the road was made quickly 'when the warning was issued to evacuate, working with local officials and Oprah's Ranch,' the representative added in a statement Wednesday. Cars were escorted in separate caravans that each 'had a lead vehicle and a sweep vehicle to make sure that there weren't any incidents on the mountain road,' Meidell said. Haleakala Ranch encompasses nearly 30,000 acres of open space from the southern shoreline to Upcountry Maui, according to its website, and has been family-owned and operated since the late 1800s. The private road connects a public roadway with a highway on the island's oceanside. Some Hawaii residents have long expressed frustration with the large swaths of land that wealthy public figures like Winfrey own on Maui and have advocated against short-term rentals that dot the region and worsen the already low housing supply. The islands have faced a chronic housing shortage only exacerbated in 2023 when a deadly wildfire destroyed most of Lahaina, a town on Maui and the historic former capital of the Hawaiian kingdom. The wildfire was the deadliest in U.S. history in a century that left more than 100 people dead. Users claimed with no evidence then that Winfrey had hired private firefighters to protect her land before the fires started, and hired security to keep others of her land during the evacuations. Some X users also spread false claims linking Winfrey to the cause of the blaze. Winfrey teamed up with Dwayne Johnson to launch the People's Fund for Maui and committed $10 million to help residents who lost their homes in the wildfires. The fund raised almost $60 million as of April 2024. In 2019, Winfrey confirmed on X, then Twitter, that county officials were given permission to use the private road immediately after a brush fire started on Maui's southern area. The road ultimately was not used, Maui County spokesperson Chris Sugidono told the AP at the time. ___ Associated Press National Writer Hillel Italie contributed reporting. ___ Find AP Fact Checks here:
