The Reporter Press & The Irregular Newspapers Covered the Story
The fire was big talk around Town with some folks suggested the Chief didn't fight the fire correctly and should be relieved. (Hindsight is always 20/20)
REMEMBER THE IRREGULAR NEWSPAPER ? It was one of the local newspapers before the Conway Daily Sun came along. This article written by Marcia Meehan.
THEN WHAT HAPPENED ?
Several years before the fire Mr Rogers had sold his interest in the entire property, and all the acreage, to the Attitash Lift Corporation. He retained a life estate, which entitled him to live on the property for as long as he lived.
In the following months the fire debris was removed and a foundation was poured for a trailer to be installed on the same spot as the original house. Betty and Harry lived in this trailer until Harry died in 1989. At that time the trailer was removed and Betty moved to another residence on East Conway Road in Conway, where I assume she still resides to this day. (10-30-1990) The property now belongs to the owners of Mt Attitash.
Fires Curse the Tasker Family.
Just to follow-up to the article on the Harry Rogers homestead fire of 1980. I wonder what the odds are of a 'family' having so many fires?
If you check your Intervale stories you will see that the Fariveiw Cottage owned by Cyrus Tasker burnt down a number of times. But that is not all, in February of 1968 our family home in Chatham NJ built by my father George W. Tasker in 1938, caught fire and was substanially damaged (we had the local paper article, but I can't find it now). We did rebuild it but it was unihabitable for some time.
Then in December 1992 the home of my brother's son, Howard Haskell Jr, was completely destroyed by fire. In both the recent fires, luckily, no one was hurt (but we did lose the family cat in the Chatham fire).
Of course I am offering this tongue-in-cheek, but the odds certainly have to be long, particularly once you get to the end of the 20th century. Maybe a Halloween time article?
Deborah Tasker Sena
The photos for this article were obtained from the Collection of Dave Eliason, who snapped these pictures. He only wishes he had been more dutiful to have captured more faces of the firemen.