Around the Rivers: Sewickley Mourns Loss of Resident Killed in Fire

When members of Sewickley’s  gather Sunday for the 10:30 a.m. service, they know Arthur and Frances Hoston will not be in their usual seats, second pew from the front on the right.

It will be a conspicuous absence for the congregation, which has counted the Hostons among its most dedicated members for more than 50 years.

“Our entire congregation is connected with them in some way,” church Secretary Tawanna Simmons told Sewickley Patch Thursday. “They were very passionate about their love for Christ and for the people here at the church.”

Frances Hoston, 88, known as “Polly” to everyone who knew her, was killed Wednesday afternoon in a blaze that swept through her home in Aleppo Township.

According to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner'soffice, Hoston died from burns and smoke inhalation. Her husband, Arthur “Art” Hoston, 91, was burned on his face and arms while trying to save his wife.

“It was really hard to see. He kept trying to go back into the house for her,” neighbor Linda Petrie said, choking back tears. “They were such nice neighbors. He is such a nice man.”

Art Hoston is a man who took great pride in his home—especially its lawn and meticulously groomed hedges, she said.

“He always had his hedges, his plants, his lawn perfect,” Petrie said.

“He made sure those hedges were level everyday,” Hoston’s daughter-in-law Sandy Veney said with a smile. “He loved the outdoors. He’d be out there when it was 90 degrees!”

Now those once-perfect hedges at 141 Ferndale Ave. are mangled; they were trampled as the emergency workers spent Wednesday afternoon fighting the two-alarm blaze that claimed Polly Hoston's life. A day later, all that remained were the charred rubble of the Hoston home and a thick smell of smoke in the air of  this quiet neighborhood.

 Bill Davis Jr. said flames had already engulfed the two-story house when firefighters arrived just after 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. The first floor collapsed and then the roof.

“We heard something explode, and then the house went up in flames. There was nothing we could do,” Petrie said. “My husband and I just looked at each other and said, ‘There is nothing we can do.’ ”

Polly Hoston was believed to have been on the first floor of the house when she died, Davis said.

Art Hoston escaped from the burning house, and neighbors had to pull him back when he tried to rescue his wife.

“He was trying to find a way in…He was in such shock [that] I’m not sure he knows what happened,” Petrie said. "He tried using a garden hose."

To those who knew him, it came as no surprise that Art Hoston fought to save his wife.

“It’s so touching, just touching, that at 91 years old he’s going into a burning house for her,” Veney said. “I’m not shocked.”

While the official cause of the fire remains under investigation, WPXI-TV is reporting that the blaze began when a flammable liquid other than kerosene was put in a kerosene heater. The Allegheny County Fire Marshal did not return calls seeking to confirm that Thursday.

Art Hoston was treated overnight at UPMC Mercy Hospitaland, according to relatives, is scheduled to be released by day’s end. He plans to stay at a family member’s house in Monroeville.

“He can’t come home,” Petrie said tearfully. “Look what he would come home to now—there is no home. No wife.”

The Hostons married later in life, blending their families under one roof. They have five children, many grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.  According to neighbors and friends, their home for decades had been a gathering place for family and community members.

“They weren’t by themselves,” neighbor Ed Cymbilac said. “I saw cars and their grandkids over there all the time.”

“I was just talking about Thanksgiving at their house,” Simmons recalled. “She liked cooking for her family.”

Among Polly Hoston's specialties: ribs and macaroni and cheese.

Members of a senior citizens group gathered Thursday at Triumph Baptist Church for their usual Bible study, but much of the meeting was instead spent remembering their dear friends.

“They are loving and caring people and really involved in the church,” Simmons said.

No formal plans have been made for Polly Hoston’s memorial, but her loved ones insist that there will be a service at the Sewickley church, which they said was such an enormous part of the Hostons' lives.

“It will be here, right here, “ Veney said. “At Triumph.”