Hotel fire victim Dorothy Joyce, third from left, surrounded by her grandchildren shortly before her death in 1977 (Photograph supplied)
An American family are looking for more information on a fire at the Southampton Princess that killed two family members 46 years ago.
George Stock from Ambler, Pennsylvania, lost his grandmother, Dorothy Joyce, and great-uncle, George Alton Gandy, in a fire at the hotel on December 1, 1977. His parents, Peggy and Blaine Stock, and uncle and aunt, Philip and Barbara Baur, survived.
“My two kids are getting to an age where they are dating and getting married,” Mr Stock said. “They are asking questions about their family and lineage. We started to tell them this story of the fire and then thought why don’t we go on the internet and find out more information about it.”
Dorothy Joyce in Bermuda shortly before her death in the Southampton Princess fire on December 1, 1977 (Photograph supplied)
He contacted this newspaper after coming across a 2021 interview in The Royal Gazette with Reginald Rawlins, who was the first fireman on the scene.
He would like to hear from others who were there that night, or have footage of the fire.
His 88-year-old mother remembers the tragedy, vividly.
The family was here for a five-day trip to celebrate the Baurs’ 25th wedding anniversary.
“We only had a day or two left to go before going home,” she said. “I remember we took the ferry that day.”
They were all familiar with Bermuda.
“I first came in 1965 for College Weeks,” she said. “It had been a long time since my mother and uncle had been to Bermuda.”
But on this occasion Bermuda was hit by unrest surrounding the impending hangings of Erskine “Buck” Burrows and Larry Tacklyn. The men had been convicted