Ilion High School - Class of 1937

Herkimer Evening Telegram - December 29, 1967

Volunteer Fireman Fatally Stricken

Article 5

ILION - A volunteer fireman suffered a fatal heart attack when flames gutted the second floor of a wooden frame house at 11 Bridge St., at about 5:30 p.m. yesterday, but the family of five occupying the house escaped safely.

Howard L. Hendrix, 51, the volunteer fireman, a prominent Ilion funeral director, was rushed to Mohawk Valley General Hospital by ambulance when he had a heart attack outside the burning house. He was treated by doctors there, but failed to revive.

Mr. and Mrs. Howard Lollman, who occupied the house with their two sons, Ralph, 20, and Everett, 14, and daughter, Rosemary, 11, fled the house and were uninjured.

They were warned of the fire by a neighbor, James Bala, 14 Bridge St., who spotted flames shooting from a front second floor window.

Firemen said the blaze apparently started in an electrical wiring outlet in the living room behind a TV set, and went up into the partition into the second floor.

Mrs. Lollman, a night nurse at Mohawk Homestead, said she was asleep at the time, while the rest of the family had finished eating supper. They said they smelled smoke, but were unaware that the house was on fire.

Roger and Tim Johnston, sons of Mrs. Carl Johnston, 83 W. Prospect St., neighbors, were also in the house at the time, but escaped with the family.

The family lost all their possessions in the blaze, saving only a pile of clothing Mrs. Lollman was preparing to wash, and her camera. Christmas gifts were among the articles lost.

Mr, and Mrs. Lollman stayed last night at the home of William Bowler, pastor, Missionary Alliance Church, 215 Elm St. Their children spent the night with Mrs. Lollman's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Cress, in East Herkimer.

When Hendrix was felled by the heart attack, his son, Leonard, also a volunteer fireman, was on the roof, where firemen were chopping in an attempt to get to the blaze.

The flames gutted the second floor, containing three bedrooms and a bath, and heavy water damage resulted in the three rooms on the ground floor.

Firemen were at the scene about 1 1/2 hours before the flames were fully extinguished. Snow was falling while they fought the fire. Volunteer firemen Larry Vedder sustained a cut thumb and was treated for the injury at the hospital.

The family occupied the house for about five years. The ownership is in the estate of Sam Kallasy, an Ilion grocer who died some 17 years ago.

Born in Ilion on Nov. 11, 1916, Hendrix was a son of Harry and Elizabeth Putnam Hendrix. He married Erminia May Whiter on Aug. 3, 1940, in Ilion.

A 1937 graduate of Ilion High School, he worked in Remington Arms Co. until he entered the U. S. Army in 1942. Meanwhile, in 1938, he received his license as a funeral director.

On being discharged from the Army he was associated with his mother-in-law, Mrs. Anna Whiter, as a funeral director. After her death he became owner in 1958 of the Whiter-Hendrix Funeral Home.

He was a member of the First Methodist Church, serving on the Official Board and Board of Trustees. He was member of the New York State Funeral Directors Association, and the National Funeral Directors Association.

He was member of C. W. Carpenter Hose Co. No. 2, volunteer firemen, the Ilion Masonic Lodge, Ilion, Elks Lodge, Moose Lodge, Odd Fellows Lodge, Kiwanis Club, Community Club and Ilion American Legion.

He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Ilion Savings and Loan Association and the Ilion Fish and Game Club.

Surviving, besides his wife, are three sons, Leonard R., associated with him in the funeral home; Wayne R., and Brian A., all of Ilion: three brothers, Leland, Albany; Edgar, Lake Worth, Fla ; and Horace, Ilion.

Services will be 2 p.m. Sunday from the Whiter-Hendrix Funeral Home, with the Rev. Maurice Mitchell, Presbyterian Church pastor, and the Rev. Charles S. Williams, Methodist Church pastor, officiating. Burial will be in Armory Hill Cemetery. Calling hours are 7 to 9 tonight, 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 tomorrow.