To: Ky-Footsteps
Subject: Graybeal.Eugene.1957.Oldham-Henry-Jefferson.NEWS



Blast, Fire Kill Two In Family July 30 1957
Oldham-Henry-Jefferson County KyArchives News

The Louisville Times, Tuesday, 7-30-1957
BLAST, FIRE KILL TWO IN FAMILY

Surviving Boy Badly Burned

A 7 year old Louisville boy, a survivor of an explosion and fire at Skylight, 
Ky., that took the lives of his grandmother and his aunt, is in serious 
condition today at Children's Hospital with burns over 45 per cent of his 
body. He is Eugene Graybeal, son of Mrs. Jean Mattingly, 905 Stanley. Fatally 
burned yesterday in their home on U. S. 42 in Oldham County were: Mrs. Lula 
Kelly Flack, 60, widow of Grover Flack, a service station operator, who died 
in 1953. Her daughter, Miss Doris Marie Flack, 21.

Stove's Jet Open

Oldham County Magistrate Harry Nelson, a member of the North Oldham Volunteer 
Fire Department, said the explosion happened at 6:30 a.m. when Mrs. Flack 
started to prepare breakfast on a bottled gas stove in the two room frame 
house. The assistant chief of the fire department, George Carter, said he 
found three burners on the gas stove in an "on" position when he entered the 
house. He theorized that the burners may have been left on overnight. Deputy 
State Fire Marshal Frank Broadus said he found no defects in the stove or 
pipes. He plans a further investigation, however.

Furnishings Burned

The explosion ignited furnishings in the house but did not burn the structure. 
Mrs. Flack ran screaming to the doorway, her clothing aflame. Her son, Lester, 
who lives nearby, beat out the flames and then carried his sister outside. The 
7 year old boy escaped unaided. He had been visiting his grandmother. Mrs. 
Flack died at Mallory-Taylor Memorial Hospital at LaGrange about six hours 
after the fire. Her daughter, died there two hours later. 

Mrs. Flack's survivors also include two other daughters, Mrs. Christine Gill, 
Crestwood, and Mrs. Margaret Freeman; two other sons, Carroll Flack, 
Crestwood, and Edward Flack; a sister, Mrs. Irene Tuggle, Glencoe, Ky., and 20 
grandchildren. 

A joint service for the two victims will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at the 
Radcliffe Funeral Home, LaGrange, with burial in Valley of Rest Cemetery there.

Submitted by: Roger Mattingly
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00010.html#0002292



Additional Comments:
Mrs. Lula Kelley Flack's name is incorrectly spelled as: Mrs. Lula Kelly 
Flack. She is the daughter of John Gibson Kelley and Mary Catherine Giles, of 
Henry County, Kentucky.

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/