CHICAGO (CBS) ― Memorial services were held Saturday for six of the seven victims of last weekend’s deadly Cicero fire. Family members attending the services say their loss is great, but their love and faith is greater, CBS 2’s Mai Martinez reports.
It was not a time to mourn, for family and friends of Byron Reed. Instead, it was an opportunity to celebrate the life of the young father, his girlfriend, Sallie Gist, and their children: 3-year-old Rashon and 3-day-old Bryon.
The family died last Sunday when fire swept through the attic where they were sleeping. Also killed were Sallie’s brother and sister — 16-year-old twins Elicia and Elijah Gist — and family friend Tiera Davidson. Many of their family and friends attended an earlier memorial service for the Gist family.
“I would never imagine something as tragic like this would happen, but it was God’s will,” Allison Gist, the mother of Sallie, Elicia and Elijah, said.
Allison was so moved by the outpouring of support for her family, she wanted to offer that same support to Byron Reed’s family.
And even though it was hard for some to fight back tears, family members encouraged them to turn to their faith for the strength.
“Don’t be sad, because they’re in a better place,” Allison said. “No more crying. No more crime, no more sorrows, more worrying about things. God is up there taking care of them.”
That thought, and a loving embrace from a mother who shares her pain gave Shilla Newton, Byron Reed’s mother, great comfort.
“Of course my heart is heavy, I would be less than human if my heart was not heavy, but my faith in God is going to take me through it,” she said.
Newton says knowing her son is with the ones he loves gives her the greatest peace possible.
“If my son had survived and the children had not, I don’t know just how distraught he would be, because he loved his children,” she said.
It’s a comfort both mothers tried to share with everyone today.
Allison Gist says she truly believes everything will be all right, despite the fact that she and other members of her family who survived the fire are now homeless.
She says family and friends are helping them to get by, but they need a place to live.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Investigators have fielded dozens of leads, a Cicero village spokesman has said.
Read the original article from WBBM News Radio.
Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services