‘I don’t want her to die too!’ What happened to 8-year-old girl saved by father in '68 fire

FARGO — “Nobody talked.”

That is how Forum staff writer Mike Lien described the scene on the northern outskirts of town that frigid early morning of Jan. 5, 1968. It was 1:05 a.m. and the silence was deafening. Brutally cold, brisk, southeasterly winds fanned the flames on piles of rubble that, less than an hour earlier, had been home to the sleeping Jenkins family.

Now all firefighters could do was stand back, stare, and hope that the fire wouldn’t spread. They knew the worst had already happened.

When a man asked the firefighters “Is anyone in there?” he was greeted with silence. It was six degrees below zero, the winds gusted to 25 miles per hour and shock and sadness were setting in.

“The weather was cold, the silence was cold — colder than your feet in two-foot drifts undercut with water from the hose. At 1:05 a.m. today it was a fire that held no warmth,” Lien wrote.

The Jenkins home was located at 1113 35th St. N. in Fargo. The two-story frame house sat just south of 12th Avenue between North Dakota State University and Interstate 29. In 1968, that was the northwest edge of town.

The Jenkins family was working-class. Bernard was a metal cutter at Fargo Iron and Metal Company, while Ellen worked at the nearby Hasty Tasty restaurant. They were parents to eight children, five of whom were still living at home, including Kathryn, 17; Steve, 12; Bruce, 10; and Evelyn, 8. An older daughter Mary Jenkins Bienusa, 21, also lived there with her husband Dean Bienusa and their infant son, Dean Jr.

Three other Jenkins children had already moved out. Ardys was married and living in Italy with her husband, Ben Salazar, who was stationed in the Army there. Son Leslie was in the Air Force and stationed in Hawaii, while Dennis, 16, was in the Job Corps in Nebraska.

According to The Forum, the first person to notice the fire that night was Kathryn. She later told investigators she had gone downstairs just after midnight and when she flipped a light switch fire erupted. The Jenkins’ son-in-law Dean Bienusa started trying to put it out.

“It was just a small fire when I started to fight it, but suddenly the whole room was on fire. I grabbed our baby and gave him to my wife and made sure they were outside,” he said.

He said he told his family along with Kathryn to take refuge from the flames in a black 1961 Ford parked outside. Eventually, the family, including a barefoot Kathryn, ran to the neighbor’s house.

Bienusa went back into the home and called for his father-in-law.

“I know he answered. I shouted real loud and then ran over to Mr. Krafts,” he said.

William Kraft was the next-door neighbor. While Kraft put on a coat, he told his wife to call the fire department and ambulance. Then he helped Bienusa carry a ladder back to the Jenkins house. They knew time was running out.

“I could hear Jenkins screaming for help but the heat and the heavy smoke kept us from going all the way up the ladder to give him help,” Kraft said.

But Bienusa wasn’t giving up. Still barefoot, he climbed to the window on the second floor to try and rescue the stranded family members; Parents Bernard and Ellen, their youngest sons Steve and Bruce and their youngest daughter Evelyn.

“I broke the glass and hurt my hand,” said Bienusa. “I couldn’t see the window and the next thing I know Evie (Evelyn) was on the ground.”

In desperation, Bernard had thrown little Evelyn out the second-floor window safely into a deep snowdrift below. He shouted, “I don’t want her to die too!”

With Bienusa’s hand now bleeding, Kraft tried again to climb the ladder but only got halfway up when the entire north wall of the home burst into flames. Even the ladder caught fire.

By this time, firefighters had arrived. One told The Forum, “when we got there it was impossible to save anyone.”

Kraft was deeply shaken when he spoke to a WDAY-TV news crew the next day at the tool and supply store where he worked. He broke into tears as he told the story of Bernard’s heroism and saving Evelyn’s life.

Kraft said after failing to rescue the family and feeling like “a frozen wet blanket,” he turned his attention to the little girl in the snow. She was unconscious. He carried her to his house where he and his wife wrapped her in blankets.

He said, “she began to show life” when the ambulance arrived.

Evelyn was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital and treated for exposure and minor burns. She was released on Monday, three days after the fire.

After seeking refuge at the home of neighbors, the other survivors — Dean and Mary Bienusa, Dean Jr. and Kathryn Jenkins — were taken to the Gardner Hotel in Fargo where Dean treated his frostbitten feet.

Investigators speculated that a portable heater was the probable cause of the fire. West Fargo Fire Chief Dew Wayne Jones said the electric heater is believed to have tipped over and ignited bedding in a first-floor bedroom. He added that the oil fumes from the space heater may have caused the “whole room to come on fire” after Kathryn had turned on a light switch.

The survivors worked with the Red Cross to try and resume their lives following the tragic fire. They moved into a furnished apartment days after the fire.

According to stories in The Forum in the days following the fire, the family’s story obviously touched the community.

“Red Cross workers have been warmed by the public’s terrific current of humanitarian feeling for the family as hundreds of calls offering aid of all kinds have poured in.”

John Welton, Red Cross disaster service chairman, said people offered furniture, bedding, clothing and cash to the family.

But it was Evelyn’s story that most touched the local police. The Fargo Police Association voted to spend $50 on Evelyn and they issued a challenge to all other civic clubs in town to match it. ($50 in 1968 would be the equivalent of about $430 today).

On Feb 16, A WDAY-TV news crew followed Evelyn and representatives from the Association on a shopping spree. The 8-year-old looked a little bewildered as to why her thumbing through a clothing rack of dresses was news.

According to the story in The Forum, the police said they just wanted to help the courageous little girl.

“The pain of losing a father, mother and two brothers is still very real for Evie. She got a big break when her dad saved her life. Fargo police hope she gets a real chance with that life.”

Evelyn Jenkins is now Evelyn Walters. She recently told The Forum that after the fire, she lived with her oldest sister Ardys and her husband Ben. (Sadly, Ardys and Evelyn, the oldest and youngest Jenkins siblings, are the only ones still living.)

They stayed in Fargo, where Evelyn eventually graduated from Fargo North High School.

Evelyn is a little reluctant to talk about the fire and her father’s heroism, because of the emotions it stirs up, calling that time in her life “kind of a blur.” But she was nice enough to provide assistance, information, and photos for this story.

And it’s a story that obviously struck a chord with people who read it 55 years ago. And some people never forgot.

The impetus for writing about the Jenkin’s fire and little "Evie" stemmed from a reader who mentioned to The Forum that they had “always wondered what happened to that sweet little girl.”

“That sweet little girl” is now 63. She said perhaps in the future, she’ll be ready to talk more about surviving the fire. But for now, she can share that her story has a happy ending.

“I’ve been married for 42 years. I have two grown sons and I am doing fine.”