Edmund R. Vieira saved Michael B., and Brian S. Cawvey from burning, Wickford, Rhode Island, June 18, 1959. When fire broke out in a closet under the stairway in a dwelling where Michael, 5, and Brian, 3, were asleep upstairs, their mother carried her two other small sons outside and then ran to the second floor, which already was filled with dense smoke. She carried Michael and Brian to the top of the stairs and, finding flames by then burning along the side of and over the stairway railing, called for help. Vieira, 29, truckdriver, was attracted by the smoke and was told by neighbors that a woman and two children were on the second floor. On his first entrance Vieira was driven back by the intense heat and dense smoke, through which he could see only the bottom of the stairs. He then re-entered and began crawling up the stairs, the treads of which were very hot. Crouching under flames which intermittently extended across the stairway, Vieira ascended the stairs and found the mother and her two sons. With one of the boys under each arm and followed by the mother, Vieira ran down the stairs between sporadic bursts of flame and, seeing the front doorway dimly through the smoke, left the dwelling. All escaped with only minor burns. Firemen extinguished the flames. 44837-4381
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44837-4381Obituary
Edmund R. Vieira, 42, of Jamestown, R.I., died Nov. 27, 1972, at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, R.I., after a month’s illness. He was employed by the state highway department.
Vieira was born in Jamestown on June 29, 1930, the son of Manuel R. and Mary C. Henry Vieira. He was married to Marylouise Morris Vieira and was the father of six children, Edmund R. Vieira, John D. Vieira, Joseph H. Vieira, Daniel T. Vieira, Emma L. Vieira, and Maryjane Vieira.
He was buried in St. Mark’s Cemetery in Jamestown.
(Edited from a published obituary provided by a family member.)