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| Jane Wallace survived the 1946 Winecoff Hotel fire |
Jane married Byron Orville Wallace during World War II. Byron was a serviceman during the war and the Army sent Byron to the University of Mississippi in Oxford and Jane was a student at the Oxford Hospital Nurses Training School attending a four-year program. It is believed this was how Jane and Byron met and soon they were married. Jane’s sister Eva described Byron as “a real nice guy” and probably Jane was attracted to Byron because of his heroic status as a serviceman. (2)
At the time of the fire Jane and Byron were separated and she traveled by bus from Holly Springs to Atlanta, according to her sister Eva, “to see if they could reconcile differences and get back together.” Jane divorced Byron soon after the fire and in October of 1947 married Bill Newsom. Bill mentioned in an interview with Winecoff Fire co-author, Sam Heys, that it was Jane’s intention to divorce Byron because she had met Bill and wanted to marry him. Bill mentioned that he knew that Jane was in Atlanta for this reason but didn’t know what hotel she was staying in and didn’t think Jane was in any danger when the news spread about the Winecoff fire. (3)
The hotel register for the night of December 6th shows that Mr. and Mrs. Byron Wallace checked in that night from Holly Springs. But Byron wasn’t in the hotel at the time of the fire. Different scenarios could be deduced from this. Maybe Byron paid for the room and didn’t intend to stay in the hotel. Maybe Jane intended for both of them to spend the night at the hotel or maybe they had argued and Byron left.
Regardless of the situation Jane was alone in 1522 and she awakened when “a terrific roar hit the door. I looked out and smoke poured in. A man and a little boy also came running in. Somebody ran a ladder from the next building and I climbed out of my room. I yelled to the little boy and his daddy to come too; I tried to pull them, but they apparently had passed out.” (1)
The man and little boy mentioned in the above excerpt were Carlos and his son Richard Hamil from Rome, Georgia. Carlos was the advisor, to the Rome Hi-Y delegates. Jane had the intention of jumping from her window but Carlos Hamil talked her out of it and the three of them wet towels and covered their faces. Someone extended a ladder from the roof of the Mortgage Guarantee Building and Jane was the first to go across. Once Jane made it across she called to the Hamil’s but found that they had passed out in the room so the men who extended the ladder across climbed into the room to take the Hamil’s out.
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| Jane resumed her nursing career after the fire |
It is believed that Jane didn’t suffer any physical injury and never went to a hospital after the event. Her sister Eva mentioned that Jane spent a few days recuperating at Byron’s parents’ house in College Park but the extent of the injuries she suffered, whether physical or mental, is unknown. (2)
Jane’s second husband Bill described that at one point soon after the fire while staying in a hotel in Memphis that she was very concerned about what floor they were staying on. Jane did mention to her husband once that “she and some others crawled on a ladder, fourteen floor up to another building.” (4) Jane and Bill had two daughters throughout their marriage. One of their daughters, Judy, described that Jane was a very private person and never talked about the fire. In fact Judy never knew that her mother was previously married until Judy had married herself. When she found out Judy was visiting her mother and her aunt mentioned that Jane was in a hotel fire. Judy turned to her mother and asked “you were in a hotel fire in Atlanta?”
Jane responded “yes”.
Judy asked “what were you doing over there?”
Jane said “just visiting.”
Judy said that’s all her mother said and she knew she didn’t want to talk about it. Judy asked another aunt who told her more about the story of Jane being married.
After Judy found out that her mother was in the fire Jane scratched out the name Wallace on her nursing pin from when she attended nursing school. Apparently she didn’t want her daughter to know that she was divorced. Jane considered her divorce to be shameful to her family. She was a Baptist and later when one of her own children went through a divorce it devastated her. (4)
Jane continued her nursing career after the fire and soon acquired a job working at the Marshall County Hospital and then for the last ten to fifteen years of her life she worked in the surgical supply department. (4) Jane died on May 14, 1984 of a brain tumor. (5)
Sources:
Macon Telegraph Monday December 9, 1946
Eva Moore/Sam Heys phone interview
Bill Newsom/Sam Heys phone interview
Judy Mims/Chet Wallace phone interview June 2015
Letter written to Sam Heys from Bill Newsom
