Abstract:
State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan said investigators have found no
obvious cause for the explosion and said the probe is "a longterm
project now." Coan said all gas meters, appliances and a furnace
removed from the dwelling will be examined by experts and a contractor will
be hired to see if the gas delivery system to the building failed.
"What beautiful, awesome babies they really were," [Tiffany
Germain] concluded. "I love you [Violet]. I love you Iris."
GRIEVING: [Tara Carey] and [Heath Carey], parents of 4-year-old Iris, top
right, and 5-year-old Violet, bottom right, who were killed when their
Hopkinton home exploded last week, pick flowers off the casket at Vernon
Grove Cemetery in Milford yesterday. STAFF PHOTO BY MATT STONE; FILE PHOTO;
FILE PHOTO
| Full Text: |
| Copyright Boston Herald Library Jul
30, 2002 |
MILFORD -- Two young Hopkinton sisters, inseparable in
life before dying in a horrific house explosion last week, were buried
together in Milford yesterday while their now childless parents wondered
"what will we do without them."
"I loved you both with all my heart, body and
soul," Heath Carey, 26, said in a letter to his daughters, Violet, 5,
and Iris, 4.
"I just wanted to take care of you and protect you.
We tried with all our strength to protect you, but in the end, a stronger
force was calling. A group of four inseparables have been split down the
middle, just like my heart," Carey wrote in the letter he titled
"Daddy loves his babies," read by family friend David Hause in St.
Mary of the Assumption Church.
The girls' mother, Tara Carey, in a letter to
"Mommy's little babies," said, "The heavens cried the day our
angels left. We need our babies back. We miss them so much. What will we do
without them."
About 400 mourners filled the church yesterday to say a
final goodbye to the girls who died early Wednesday when a mysterious
explosion, believed to have been fueled by a natural gas leak, tore apart
their three-story apartment building in Hopkinton.
The grieving parents, clutching flowers from their
daughters' shared casket, released two pink balloons before the girls were
laid to rest at Vernon Grove Cemetery.
"I promise we will see them again," their
mother wrote. "They were ready to go back home and the heavens rejoiced
to see them again."
During the funeral Mass, the Rev. Michael Foley stepped
down from the altar to talk directly to the devastated parents, candidly
telling them, "Part of me doesn't know what to say." Foley, who
baptized the girls, complimented the Careys for the "good job"
they did in raising "these two works of art, these treasures from God
that came from your love."
Saying he saw a "vibrancy from Violet and Iris that
came from you," Foley said the precocious girls "lived more in
those few years than all of us lived in a lifetime.
"I have no answer at all for suffering and death or
an answer for why this horrible thing would happen," the priest added.
"It's changing now, but it's not going away. In the quiet of your
hearts you're going to know how much they still love you. As harsh and as
cruel and as overwhelming as all this has been, this is not the end."
State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan said investigators
have found no obvious cause for the explosion and said the probe is "a
longterm project now." Coan said all gas meters, appliances and a
furnace removed from the dwelling will be examined by experts and a
contractor will be hired to see if the gas delivery system to the building
failed.
"We want to ensure the material that we collected
goes through every and all proper analysis," Coan said, adding he has
contacted the National Fire Protection Agency in Quincy to ask its help in
finding the best experts available to help pinpoint the cause of the blast.
Regardless of what caused the sisters' deaths, their loss
will remain painful for their family.
"Heartbreak is an expression, but it's an ache you
can actually feel," said their aunt, Tiffany Germain. "Tell the
people you love that you love them every day and be kind to people because
you just don't know.
"What beautiful, awesome babies they really
were," Germain concluded. "I love you Violet. I love you
Iris."
Caption: GRIEVING: Tara and Heath Carey, parents of
4-year-old Iris, top right, and 5-year-old Violet, bottom right, who were
killed when their Hopkinton home exploded last week, pick flowers off the
casket at Vernon Grove Cemetery in Milford yesterday. STAFF PHOTO BY MATT
STONE; FILE PHOTO; FILE PHOTO
