Hazlet fatal fire: ‘Dad, we’re just gonna get through it and we’re gonna move on’
HAZLET - On what was the worst day of their lives, William Montanaro turned to his only surviving child, Elena, 8, as they left the hospital Friday and said: “You know, Elena, ... I’m not sure how we’re gonna get through this…
“And she looks at me and she goes: ‘Dad, we’re just gonna get through it and we’re gonna move on,’” Montanaro recalled his daughter telling him.
“Talk about her mother’s daughter.”
Montanaro spoke to more than 1,000 mourners, who gathered Tuesday to recognize his family’s loss and pay tribute to his wife, Jacqueline, who died trying to save their 6-year-old daughter Madelyn in a fire at their Hazlet home. Both perished in the blaze.
“The biggest thing that I really want to do tonight here is thank everyone that’s here,” said Montanaro, at the candlelight vigil at Veterans Park. “The outpouring of support that my family has received is unimaginable. I never, ever, ever, throughout my life thought we would receive anything like this.”
The early morning blaze last Friday destroyed the Montanaros’ two-story home on Brookside Avenue. The cause has not yet been established, said Mayor Michael Sachs.
Christopher Swendeman, spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, said the circumstances of the fire are under investigation.
Related: Hazlet mourns mother and daughter who perished in home blaze
At the vigil Tuesday, Will Montanaro explained that his wife, Jackie, was “extremely humble … very private … and that most people didn’t even know what she did for a living.” She was a federal police officer — a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent at Newark Liberty International Airport, he explained.
During the memorial, a phalanx of Hazlet police officers stood watch in the darkness along the crowd as Will Montanaro called on the community to support those who served in law enforcement as his late wife.
“And my little girl … Maddie, for those of you who got to know her, know that she was her mother's mini, without a doubt,” he said. “That child, with the most infectious smile, she’d make anybody happy. And she was very quick-witted.”
The family's dog, Duchess, a copper golden doodle, was later found dead in the home after a neighborhood search failed to find the beloved family pet — initially believed to have escaped the inferno.
Police Chaplain Barry Mulligan said he had been asked to take part “in this candlelight vigil as we come together to support the Montanaro family who have suffered so much in this past week.”
Mulligan said the family’s relationships within Hazlet had caused their loss to be felt well beyond their family and demonstrated the closeness of the local community. During the vigil, the roads going in and out of Veterans Park were choked with traffic from those wanting to attend the memorial.
“It is true that the unexpected events in life reveal the deepest parts of who we really are,” Mulligan said. “So, even in the middle of deep sorrow, there is gratitude.”
Joe Autera, Jacqueline’s father said: “When I think of Jackie, she embodied — she believed in her heart of hearts — that one person can have a tremendous impact on those around her and that those people can have an impact on the world. And I think this demonstrates … this turnout; this outpouring of support demonstrates that she did have that impact, and that Maddie had that impact as well on all of you.”
Elena, who was at the vigil Tuesday, held a candle in tribute to her mother and sister.
A viewing for Jacqueline and Madelyn Montanaro is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Holmdel Funeral Home at 26 South Holmdel Road in Holmdel. A funeral is set for Friday at 10 a.m. at St. Benedict's Church at 165 Bethany Road, also in Holmdel.
Contact Asbury Park Press reporter Erik Larsen at elarsen@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Hazlet NJ fatal fire: ‘Dad, we’re just gonna get through it...’
