My Great Aunt Jane remembers the Winecoff Hotel Fire

My mom and I went to visit my Great Aunt Jane (full name: Betty Jane Tarrant-Lewitinn) this past Saturday to shoot video of her telling stories about her life. We knew she had been a nurse, but we didn't know until Saturday she had been a night supervisor at Grady Hospital in Atlanta on December 7, 1946, the night of the Winecoff Hotel Fire.

The Winecoff Hotel Fire was the worst in history at the time, and remains the worst in U.S. history, with 119 fatalities. In this video, she recalls her experience working in the morgue.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• family
• history
• familyhistory
• gradyhospital
• winecoffhotel
• winecoffhotelfire
• fire
• fires
• atlanta
• atlantahistory

[brucerows]

Thank you for making and sharing this video! It won't be long before all the people who remember the Wincoff fire will no longer be able to tell their stories. It's so important that future generations know about what happened that tragic night.

[lancemckellar]

What a story that was!

[Renfurrer]

What an amazing woman. Thank you for sharing her story with us. God bless.

[zabadu]

She lost her parents in a fire and then had to do that? How horrible!

[terryejames]

Thanks for documenting this tragedy--a very important part of our history.

[antnee1980]

This was really really nice...Great job!

[falldownhard]

Really nice job - thank you for taking the time to do this. We can learn so much - you and your aunt are beautiful people.