The Loftus home, on Carriage Lane, during last Saturday’s fire. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Their lives were spared, and for that they are grateful. Their home, a 120-year-old exemplar of Victorian architecture, was destroyed, but insurance will provide for another home.
The loss that’s hardest to accept, Donna and Joe Loftus say, is that of the photo and video evidence of their four children’s lives. All of it went up in smoke when their Little Silver home burned to the ground last Saturday.
In a letter to community members, district schools Superintendent Carolyn Kossack writes:
The greatest loss experienced by the Loftus family is not one on which they can place monetary value. Rather, it is the emotional loss of their mementos. Mr. and Mrs. Loftus lost all of their pictures and videos of their four children, Brendan, 5th grade, Meg, a junior at RBR, and their two college students Patrick and Elizabeth. They lost all of the childrenÂ’s school records and special projects and cards that parents keep forever.
In what Kossack calls a true community effort, she has appealed to parents of other children to scour their own photos and videos for any that might include images of the Loftus children, their school projects or their home.
She writes:
One way that community members can support the Loftus family is to provide copies of pictures, videos, projects, or any memorabilia that reflect the Loftus children and their home. If you have any photographs, etc. there will be a secure location within the main offices of each of the respective schools. A PTO volunteer will be checking the office drop box regularly.
Here’s the full letter: letter_to_parents_12-15-11
