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An elderly couple, who had been married for 63 years, died in a house fire after the grandfather told emergency rooms he “wouldn’t leave my wife.”
Kenneth and Phyllis Zerr, both 84, of New Melle, Minnesota, died about 1 a.m. Thursday from a suspected electrical fire at their home in Tall Cedar Court, where they had lived for 18 years.
New Melle Fire Protection District said the fire started on the bottom floor of the house and eventually made its way upstairs to the two bedrooms.
The couple was hiding in the bedroom and when firefighters arrived, the entire top floor began to collapse.
Kenneth had tried to help his wife, who had fallen in the bathroom, out of the house when officers urged him to get out as soon as possible, but he refused Phyllis and shortly afterwards they were trapped.
“My father said, ‘I’m not leaving my wife,’ and he stayed with her to the end,” their son Andy told me. 5 On your side.
Kenneth and Phyllis Zerr, both 84, of New Melle, Minnesota (pictured in 2013) died around 1 a.m. Thursday from a suspected electrical fire at their home in Tall Cedar Court, where they had lived for 18 years.
New Melle Fire Protection District said the fire started on the bottom floor of the house and eventually made its way upstairs to the two bedrooms. The couple was hiding in the bedroom and when the fire brigade arrived, the entire top floor started to collapse
Kenneth had tried to help his wife, who had fallen in the bathroom, out of the house when the emergency room urged him to get out as soon as possible, but he refused Phyllis and shortly after they were detained.
Kenneth reportedly shoved wet towels under the door and prayed that the fire brigade would arrive soon.
By the time firefighters forced their way through the thick, black smoke, the couple had already died, according to the report St. Louis after shipment.
“The house was full of smoke. They couldn’t see. No view,” Fire Chief Dan Casey told the Post-Dispatch.
Firefighters “felt around the bed, under the bed, on the bed,” but when the floor gave out, they had to leave.”
“The floor started to give way, so they had to back up. They got out in the nick of time,” Casey said.
When emergency services arrived they didn’t know how many people were in the house as their oldest daughter Brenda and her husband also lived in the house and dispatchers couldn’t get much information from Kenneth.
Brenda and her husband were on vacation in Alabama when police contacted her after Kenneth hung up the emergency room.
She immediately called Andy who rushed to him, but by the time he got there, firefighters told him they had died from smoke inhalation.
The home of the parents of three has always been the center of family gatherings, where their children, six grandchildren, and dozens of great-grandchildren enjoyed every Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
“My father said, ‘I’m not leaving my wife,’ and he stayed with her to the end,” said their son Andy (pictured)
“Everyone wanted to be like them and everyone wanted to be with them. My mom and dad were the salt of the earth,” Andy told 5 On Your Side. “They will be sorely missed. They were a pillar of the community. They were our rocks. They were our base. They were our wisdom.’
Kenneth, a retired VP of IT services for Community Federal Bank, had just celebrated his 84th birthday on Tuesday and the couple celebrated 63 years of marriage in September.
Phyllis was a retired receptionist for Prairie Farms.
When they retired, the couple loved to travel and had taken several trips together, Andy told the Post-Dispatch.
“They loved being together. They loved life.’
Andy recalls traveling with his two sisters and parents as a child and exploring the Southwest for three weeks.
The couple were also devout Catholics and had a strong marriage.
“You wanted your marriage to be like theirs. Always there for each other. Thick and thin,” said their granddaughter Ashley Kozlowski, 32.