SMITH, Patricia Jean
Source: Kingman Star Friday, December 3, 1948
Hoopeston, Ill.—Stark tragedy struck the Clifton Creamer family of Greater Hoopeston about 5 p.m. Sunday as a fire destroyed their three room dwelling and snuffed out the lives of two small children. However, two youngsters and a baby escaped the holocaust.
Six year old Jeannette Louise Smith carried her half sister, Shirley Lee Creamer, six months to safety and was followed out of the blazing inferno by her sister, Vera May Smith, five.
Sharon Kay Smith, 4, and Patricia Jean Smith, 22 months, were unable to escape. Their charred bodies were recovered from the razed residence by Hoopeston firemen and removed to the Hamilton Funeral Home. Their father, Dale Smith, died about two years ago.
The exact cause of the blaze was not determined immediately. Jeannette Louise, a first grade pupil at the Lincoln School, was unable to tell what happened. The mother was visiting a neighbor, Mrs. Ray Robertson, who resides abut 100 yards east of the Creamer home, when the blaze was discovered. Her husband had left the house about an hour before to go rabbit hunting. – thanks to S&E