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Friendship/Buxton blaze…
Heavy grillwork may have led to former head teacher’s demise
Installing grillwork to secure one’s home is one thing, but too much could prove fatal. That is the view of most Buxton residents following the tragic death of 71-year-old former head teacher Dolly Trim, who was burnt to death in her Friendship, East Coast Demerara home.
Yesterday, while smoke still emanated from the embers of Sunday night’s blaze, villagers were huddled together discussing the tragedy, which has left many in a state of shock. Trim lived alone, and according to residents, her house was completely grilled.
This, residents feel, was the cause of her demise, since her body was discovered in the area of her front door, suggesting that she was desperately trying to reach safety as the fire raged.
Speaking with this newspaper yesterday, the dead women’s cousin, Chariss Austin, said she believes that the security grills may have caused Trim to suffer the fate that befell her.
“I believe that she panicked, or either the smoke or flames engulfed her and she was unable to open the door because of the heavy grill. One sister was with her during the flood and she said to me, ‘Chariss, let me tell you, if you see the things Sister Dolly get on her door before you could get to the kitchen’,” Austin told this newspaper.
She said that she saw the retired head teacher at church on Saturday and she was in high spirits.
Trim even attended Sunday service before returning to her home and, as was normal, locking herself in.
But, at church, Trim had apparently divulged something of a premonition that she may no longer be around.
According to Austin, on Sunday Trim had confided in the priest that she no longer wanted to participate as a lay reader.
“Only yesterday morning she told Father that she will not be able to continue with the job because of time and whatever, not foreseeing what was behind this,” Austin recalled. Austin, who lives about 100 yards from the now dead woman, said she got a call from her sister, who informed her that, “Sister Dolly’s house was on fire”.
She was urged to go and check to see what was happening, but was initially prevented by her children.
“But I braced myself for the worst, knowing that the heavy grills on her doors, that she might be trapped. Nobody heard her scream,” Austin told Kaieteur News.
The fire started at around 22:00 hours, and according to Austin, Trim normally would be up late watching television.
“She would be up playing patience by herself. Probably because Mr. Sharma down, she was not up watching death announcement, but she will be up. She will be in by six-thirty, her gate is locked,” Austin stated. Dolly Trim, a history teacher who served at the Bladen Hall, Buxton and Annandale Secondary Schools, was described as a very quiet person.
“I think she has touched the lives of many persons who would have passed through her hands while she was a teacher,” Austin added.
She recalled when Trim managed to counsel one of her students, preventing that child from committing suicide.
“That child was able to write her exam and is now a prominent teacher in the community,” Austin said.
Trim’s death has left a void in the entire Buxton community, and she will also be missed by the hundreds whose lives she touched as a teacher. And many will continue to lament the way she met her death.
Fire fighters and Police investigators are still trying to ascertain the cause of the fire, although there is a strong suspicion that it might have been electrical in nature.
Kaieteur News understands that, a few years ago, a similar fire claimed the lives of a woman and her daughter in a house just behind Trim’s.
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