Thomas E. Lucore saved Pearl T. Curry from burning, Erie, Pennsylvania, January 4, 1960. When fire broke out at night in their one-story frame dwelling, Mrs. Curry, 36, her husband, and their three children gathered in the living room. As the flames spread rapidly toward the room, filling it with smoke, the husband led the children outside. Lucore, 41, plant guard, and two other men were attracted by the flames, which had broken through the roof and were rising 20 feet into the air. The husband then discovered that Mrs. Curry had not followed him from the dwelling. Lucore and the other men ran to the door, which they could open only 15 inches because of a heavy desk partially blocking it, and heard moans from inside the dwelling. After breaking a window, Lucore then got to his knees and wriggled through the door opening into the living room, where heat was so intense that he could breathe only near the floor. Unable to see because of the smoke, he crawled 15 feet, guided by the moaning. He could feel the heat of the floor through his heavy clothing and gloves. Within four feet of flames, which filled the kitchen, Lucore found Mrs. Curry on the floor beneath flames burning on the ceiling. Crawling backward, he dragged her 12 feet toward the door and then was met by a man who had crawled into the room. He aided Lucore in dragging Mrs. Curry to the door, and a third man then pulled her from the dwelling. Lucore and the other man followed. A minute later the kitchen roof collapsed, and flames filled the living room. Firemen arrived and extinguished the flames, but the dwelling was a total loss. Mrs. Curry was hospitalized for burns caused by the heat, and Lucore sustained a burn on his wrist. They recovered.
44972 – 4399
44972-4399Obituary
Thomas E. Lucore, 92, of Erie, Pa., died on Feb. 21, 2011, following a lengthy illness. A resident of Erie all of his life, he was born on Oct. 15, 1918, a son of Roland D. and Margaret Cataldo Lucore.
Lucore worked for Hammermill Paper Co. in plant security for 43 years before retiring in 1982. He served in the Army during World War II in the South Pacific with the 25th Infantry Division during the Battle of Guadalcanal.
He was a member of St. Luke Catholic Church and was awarded the Carnegie Medal in 1961 for saving a woman from a burning house in East Erie near the Hammermill Paper plant the previous year. He was a life member of the Erie Maennerchor Club and Zukor Club. He enjoyed music — especially playing violin — and was a former hunter.
(Edited from an obituary in the Erie Times-News, Feb. 25, 2011.)