Beloved Couple Dies In Andover, NH House Fire
ANDOVER, NH (CBS) – A fire tore through a home in Andover, New Hampshire early Friday morning killing an elderly couple inside and injuring their adult son.
Mary and Roger Pellerin, both 80-years-old, were well known in the town they'd lived in for more than 40 years.
"Just fantastic, wonderful, hardworking people. It just seems like a shame to see them go like that," said their neighbor Ronnie Evans.
WBZ-TV's Lauren Leamanczyk reports
Evans ran outside to help when he saw the flames. He says the couple's adult son succeeded in pulling his mother from the burning home, but he couldn't save her.
"Very distraught of course and banged up some. He fought to get his mother out and she was gone by the time we got out the door with her," Evans said.
The son was taken to the hospital and treated for his injuries.
Fire investigators aren't sure what caused the fire, but they believe it may have been related to a wood burning stove in the home.
The Pellerins touched hundreds of lives in Andover. Mary worked for years at the local school, Proctor Academy.
"Mary was very loving and warm and a motherly figure," said Chuck Will who worked with her for years.
Roger was a part-time custodian at Proctor, but spent decades cleaning at Andover Elementary. The school's flag was at half staff Friday in his memory.
"His second job at the school was cleaning. His first job was being like a dad to so many boys and girls," said Gretchen Hildebrand, a teacher at the school.
Mr. P, as he was known, was a staple on the town's main street, often stopping to talk to former students.
Hildebrand says some of those former students tried to save his life.
"What makes me the most emotional is thinking about the firefighters who tried to rescue him, because so many of them had been his boys," she said as her eyes welled up with tears.
