OBITUARY - ELLEN JENKINS

Submitted by: Jan Redelsperger, jansperger at gmail dot com

Source: "Longview Daily News," Longview, Cowlitz Co., Washington, November 25,
1948

BURNS ARE FATAL TO MRS. E. W. JENKINS

Mrs. Ellen Jenkins, 61, of Pleasant hill, died in a local hospital at approximately 6 o'clock this morning from burns suffered in a fire that swept the Jenkins residence near the Pacific Highway, six miles north of Kelso, Wednesday morning.

Her husband, Eugene W. Jenkins, 58, is in the St. John's Hospital in a critical condition from burns that he suffered in the same fire. 

It was reported Mrs. Jenkins, who has been ill for some time suffered deep burns about the head, arms and body.

The fire that flashed through the Jenkins house at Pleasant Hill started shortly after 8 o'clock in the morning and originated near where the chimney goes through the ceiling.  The flames swept through the three room frame house, with wallpaper covered walls, in seconds, catching the couple as they were just getting up.  

They were rescued by neighbors and a crew of carpenters working nearby.  It was reported Ted Lock, a neighbor, tore a screen off a kitchen window and pulled Mrs. Jenkins through the window.  After that he helped get Jenkins from the flame filled structure.  

The neighbors also formed a bucket brigade and extinguished the fire before the house was entirely destroyed.

Mrs. Jenkins was a longtime Kelso resident.  She leaves the widower and a son, Robert, who is with the air forces and is stationed at Hill Field, Ogden, Utah.  He arrived in Kelso this morning after a hurried trip from Utah.  

Funeral arrangements are pending.  The Reardon Funeral Home is in charge.