Parents provided by Carrie Monroe in September of 2016.
Middle name and birth place provided by Bill & Peggy Tate # 46937165 in November of 2020.
Saint Anne, Kankakee County, Illinois, USA - Nov 20, 1974
Mobile home fire kills rural St. Anne resident
An elderly farm helper died early today in a fire and small explosion that destroyed his rural St. Anne trailer home. Firemen blamed a faulty oil burner.
Roy T. Tolle, 65, was pronounced dead in the remains of his trailer on the farm of James Witvoet, RR 2, St. Anne, about 1 a.m. by Glenn Houk, Kankakee County deputy coroner and deputy sheriff.
An assistant St. Anne fire chief, Thomas Waldrop, spotted the blaze while he was driving south on Ill, I shortly before midnight, St. Anne Fire Chief J. A. “Benny” Friedman said.
“There was no hope of saving anything,” Friedman said. “The fire was coming through the roof of the trailer when Waldrop saw it from the road.”
Waldrop called the volunteer department, which went to the fire at 12:04 a.m. with a pumper, two tankers, an equipment truck and an ambulance, Friedman said.
Several small explosions rocked the medium sized dwelling during the fire, but a group of tanks containing propane gas die not blow up, the fire chief said.
A large oil tank collapsed and broke open, apparently from the heat of the blaze, he said. The tank spilled oil over a large area of the farm lot but caused no explosion, Friedman said.
The heat of the fire damaged a small structure 50 feet away and singed tires on a nearby piece of farm equipment, fireman said.
The Witvoets were asleep in their home when the fire started, Friedman said, and were apparently not aware of the blaze until firemen arrived.
The faulty oil burner apparently set the wooden interior of the trailer on fire, crating intense heat, Friedman said. Firemen put out two earlier blazes in the same dwelling.
Houk said Tolle’s body was burned almost beyond recognition. Heat from the fire was so great it burned the contents of a locked safety box, Houk said.
Nineteen firefighters from the volunteer St. Anne department helped in battling the blaze from shortly after midnight to about 1:30 a.m., Friedman said.
Houk said Tolle was divorced and had lived in the St. Anne area for six years. Tolle was described as a retiree who occasionally helped Witvoet on his farm.
Houk and other investigators were to continue their search today for Tolle’s relatives, who Houk said live in Indiana. Houk was to return to the scene of the fire today to inspect it by daylight.
Tolle is the sixth person to die in fires in Kankakee County in 1974.
Obituary contributed by Carrie M. in January of 2017.
-------------------------
Middle name and birth place provided by Bill & Peggy Tate # 46937165 in November of 2020.
Saint Anne, Kankakee County, Illinois, USA - Nov 20, 1974
Mobile home fire kills rural St. Anne resident
An elderly farm helper died early today in a fire and small explosion that destroyed his rural St. Anne trailer home. Firemen blamed a faulty oil burner.
Roy T. Tolle, 65, was pronounced dead in the remains of his trailer on the farm of James Witvoet, RR 2, St. Anne, about 1 a.m. by Glenn Houk, Kankakee County deputy coroner and deputy sheriff.
An assistant St. Anne fire chief, Thomas Waldrop, spotted the blaze while he was driving south on Ill, I shortly before midnight, St. Anne Fire Chief J. A. “Benny” Friedman said.
“There was no hope of saving anything,” Friedman said. “The fire was coming through the roof of the trailer when Waldrop saw it from the road.”
Waldrop called the volunteer department, which went to the fire at 12:04 a.m. with a pumper, two tankers, an equipment truck and an ambulance, Friedman said.
Several small explosions rocked the medium sized dwelling during the fire, but a group of tanks containing propane gas die not blow up, the fire chief said.
A large oil tank collapsed and broke open, apparently from the heat of the blaze, he said. The tank spilled oil over a large area of the farm lot but caused no explosion, Friedman said.
The heat of the fire damaged a small structure 50 feet away and singed tires on a nearby piece of farm equipment, fireman said.
The Witvoets were asleep in their home when the fire started, Friedman said, and were apparently not aware of the blaze until firemen arrived.
The faulty oil burner apparently set the wooden interior of the trailer on fire, crating intense heat, Friedman said. Firemen put out two earlier blazes in the same dwelling.
Houk said Tolle’s body was burned almost beyond recognition. Heat from the fire was so great it burned the contents of a locked safety box, Houk said.
Nineteen firefighters from the volunteer St. Anne department helped in battling the blaze from shortly after midnight to about 1:30 a.m., Friedman said.
Houk said Tolle was divorced and had lived in the St. Anne area for six years. Tolle was described as a retiree who occasionally helped Witvoet on his farm.
Houk and other investigators were to continue their search today for Tolle’s relatives, who Houk said live in Indiana. Houk was to return to the scene of the fire today to inspect it by daylight.
Tolle is the sixth person to die in fires in Kankakee County in 1974.
Obituary contributed by Carrie M. in January of 2017.
-------------------------
Parents provided by Carrie Monroe in September of 2016.
Middle name and birth place provided by Bill & Peggy Tate # 46937165 in November of 2020.
Saint Anne, Kankakee County, Illinois, USA - Nov 20, 1974
Mobile home fire kills rural St. Anne resident
An elderly farm helper died early today in a fire and small explosion that destroyed his rural St. Anne trailer home. Firemen blamed a faulty oil burner.
Roy T. Tolle, 65, was pronounced dead in the remains of his trailer on the farm of James Witvoet, RR 2, St. Anne, about 1 a.m. by Glenn Houk, Kankakee County deputy coroner and deputy sheriff.
An assistant St. Anne fire chief, Thomas Waldrop, spotted the blaze while he was driving south on Ill, I shortly before midnight, St. Anne Fire Chief J. A. “Benny” Friedman said.
“There was no hope of saving anything,” Friedman said. “The fire was coming through the roof of the trailer when Waldrop saw it from the road.”
Waldrop called the volunteer department, which went to the fire at 12:04 a.m. with a pumper, two tankers, an equipment truck and an ambulance, Friedman said.
Several small explosions rocked the medium sized dwelling during the fire, but a group of tanks containing propane gas die not blow up, the fire chief said.
A large oil tank collapsed and broke open, apparently from the heat of the blaze, he said. The tank spilled oil over a large area of the farm lot but caused no explosion, Friedman said.
The heat of the fire damaged a small structure 50 feet away and singed tires on a nearby piece of farm equipment, fireman said.
The Witvoets were asleep in their home when the fire started, Friedman said, and were apparently not aware of the blaze until firemen arrived.
The faulty oil burner apparently set the wooden interior of the trailer on fire, crating intense heat, Friedman said. Firemen put out two earlier blazes in the same dwelling.
Houk said Tolle’s body was burned almost beyond recognition. Heat from the fire was so great it burned the contents of a locked safety box, Houk said.
Nineteen firefighters from the volunteer St. Anne department helped in battling the blaze from shortly after midnight to about 1:30 a.m., Friedman said.
Houk said Tolle was divorced and had lived in the St. Anne area for six years. Tolle was described as a retiree who occasionally helped Witvoet on his farm.
Houk and other investigators were to continue their search today for Tolle’s relatives, who Houk said live in Indiana. Houk was to return to the scene of the fire today to inspect it by daylight.
Tolle is the sixth person to die in fires in Kankakee County in 1974.
Obituary contributed by Carrie M. in January of 2017.
-------------------------
Middle name and birth place provided by Bill & Peggy Tate # 46937165 in November of 2020.
Saint Anne, Kankakee County, Illinois, USA - Nov 20, 1974
Mobile home fire kills rural St. Anne resident
An elderly farm helper died early today in a fire and small explosion that destroyed his rural St. Anne trailer home. Firemen blamed a faulty oil burner.
Roy T. Tolle, 65, was pronounced dead in the remains of his trailer on the farm of James Witvoet, RR 2, St. Anne, about 1 a.m. by Glenn Houk, Kankakee County deputy coroner and deputy sheriff.
An assistant St. Anne fire chief, Thomas Waldrop, spotted the blaze while he was driving south on Ill, I shortly before midnight, St. Anne Fire Chief J. A. “Benny” Friedman said.
“There was no hope of saving anything,” Friedman said. “The fire was coming through the roof of the trailer when Waldrop saw it from the road.”
Waldrop called the volunteer department, which went to the fire at 12:04 a.m. with a pumper, two tankers, an equipment truck and an ambulance, Friedman said.
Several small explosions rocked the medium sized dwelling during the fire, but a group of tanks containing propane gas die not blow up, the fire chief said.
A large oil tank collapsed and broke open, apparently from the heat of the blaze, he said. The tank spilled oil over a large area of the farm lot but caused no explosion, Friedman said.
The heat of the fire damaged a small structure 50 feet away and singed tires on a nearby piece of farm equipment, fireman said.
The Witvoets were asleep in their home when the fire started, Friedman said, and were apparently not aware of the blaze until firemen arrived.
The faulty oil burner apparently set the wooden interior of the trailer on fire, crating intense heat, Friedman said. Firemen put out two earlier blazes in the same dwelling.
Houk said Tolle’s body was burned almost beyond recognition. Heat from the fire was so great it burned the contents of a locked safety box, Houk said.
Nineteen firefighters from the volunteer St. Anne department helped in battling the blaze from shortly after midnight to about 1:30 a.m., Friedman said.
Houk said Tolle was divorced and had lived in the St. Anne area for six years. Tolle was described as a retiree who occasionally helped Witvoet on his farm.
Houk and other investigators were to continue their search today for Tolle’s relatives, who Houk said live in Indiana. Houk was to return to the scene of the fire today to inspect it by daylight.
Tolle is the sixth person to die in fires in Kankakee County in 1974.
Obituary contributed by Carrie M. in January of 2017.
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