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of the fires not mentioned in Matt's article was the Library. I was in
5th grade so that would have been 1960 or so. It was reported to have
been caused by a classmate of mine, and word was that our teacher Mrs.
McNeil or (O'Neil?) "bailed him out of jail" because his parents
were in their usually inebriated state....
Lauren Given
Matt Bashie's reply dated May 10, 2010
Hello, Lauren,
Thanks for taking the time to write to the website about my autobiography.
You might wish to go back and re-read the chapter to which you refer (the
fires) -- because I definitely DO mention the library fire around the
end of my article. I even refer to the books still sitting undisturbed
on the shelves when they tore the place down.
As to the dateline -- I believe the fire occurred after 1960 -- and as
far as Mrs. McNeil goes, that story I have heard before and it is without
foundation. From what I understand the fire was electrical in nature and
not started by any one individual. As to the 5th grade teacher bailing
the student out of jail, that simply did not happen. By the way, I also
personally knew Mrs. McNeil back in the early 1950s.
Thanks again for reading my autobiography. I look forward to hearing from
you again in the future.
Matthew Bashie
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