MOTHER, SMALL DAUGHTER DIE IN RESIDENCE FIRE

Fire flashing through a tiny frame house, three and one-half miles west of Three Oaks, Michigan early Thursday, December 18, 1952 caused the deaths of a young mother and her two-year-old daughter.

Mrs. Mary (Barre) Boulb, 24, was trapped inside the burning house and was found dead in the one-story frame dwelling. Her charred body was found on its back in what had probably been a closet. Firemen said she had been trapped or suffocated in the small room before the flames reached her. The little girl, Donna Jean died several hours later at Osteopathic Hospital in South Bend, Indiana.

Cecil Boulb, 25, husband and father and employee of Studebaker Corp. in South Bend, was reported in serious condition at the hospital from second and third degree burns. An infant son suffered minor burns.

The father carried the two children outside after being awakened by his wife’s screams. The fire apparently started from an overheated coal stove.

Mr. Boulb had moved his family to Three Oaks November 9, from Vincennes, Ind.

Surviving Mrs. Boulb, in addition to her husband, Cecil and son, Stephen Ray, are her father, Leonard Bare of Olney; brothers, Donald Bare of Missouri in the Army and Ronald Bare, Olney; sisters, Mrs. Mildred Scott of Wayne, Mich., Mrs. Maxine Witte and Mrs. Opal Swinson of  Olney, Betty Swinson, Evansville, Ind. and Patricia, Faye and Judith Bare at home. Her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. William Bare of Parkersburg also survive.

Published in The News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, Mich) – Thurs, December 18, 1952