Bill Cochran

 

Bill Cochran, 47, Miami , Florida, Room 1006. Plymouth salesman in Coral Gables. Visiting friends in Atlanta. Wife, Jake, survived the fire.

Freda & Joseph Constangy

Freda Minkow Constangy, 26 & Joseph Constangy, 28, Atlanta, Ga. Room 1222. Staying at Winecoff until utilities turned on and furniture delivered at recently rented apartment. Joe, an army veteran, had recently bought Sims Five and Ten Cent Store. Freda was three months pregnant at the time of the fire.

Frank Jones

Willard Franklin Jones, 21. Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Room 818. Clerk typist for U.S. government's Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge. Came to Atlanta for the weekend with a co-worker.

Margaret Parker

Margaret Parker, 12, Montgomery, Alabama. Room 1604. Pictured here with her mother who survived the fire. They were in Atlanta to shop.

A.J. Burns

Ashley John Burns, 26, Ossining, New York, Room 1416. Grandson of founder of Burns Detective Agency.

Jimmy McDonald

Jimmy McDonald, 39, Memphis, Tennessee. Room 1624. CPA for Federal Public Housing Authority. Stationed in Atlanta but traveled throughout the Southeast. Wrote home to wife and daughter in Memphis every day.

Bill Berry

Charles Billy Berry, 25, Cedartown, Georgia. Room 1626. Former Marine. Survived Guadacanal. Avid bowler. Bartenter at Jack Sheriff's Theater Restaurant, next to the Winecoff Hotel.

Morris Constangy

Annie and Morris Constangy

Morris Theo Constangy, 55, Atlanta, Georgia. Room 1528. Father of victim Joseph Constangy. Son of Russian immigrants. Co-owner of dress factory. Moved into the Winecoff Hotel permanently in September. Wife, Annie May, survived the fire. 

Charles & Bess Thruen

Charles H. Thruen, 51 and Bess Mitchell Thruen, 51. Columbus, Georgia. Room 1526. Husband and wife. Charles Thruen was a civilian clerk in the salvage office at Ft. Benning, Ga. He had recently retired from the Army after 28 years of service.

Bill Dickerson

Bill Dickerson, 3, Douglas, Georgia, Room 1630. Son of Will and Mary Dickerson.

Mary Melinda Dickerson

Mary Melinda at 5 months old

Mary Melinda Dickerson, 6, Douglas, Georgia, Room 1630. Daughter of Will and Mary Dickerson. Had started first grade in September.

Mary Pettit Dickerson

Mary Pettit Dickerson, 34. Douglas, Georgia. Room 1630. Supervised government-run nursery during World War II. Attended Florida State College for Women. Spending weekend with her husband while awaiting completion of new home. Her entire family of four perished in the fire.

Harold Irvin

Harold Garnett Irvin, 23. Cornelia, Georgia. Room 830. Torpedo bomber pilot in Pacific during World War II. Stopped in Atlanta to visit friends and celebrate recent Navy discharge. About to start job as Eastern Airlines pilot.

Wylie Rochelle

Wylie L. Rochelle, 46. Marietta, Georgia. Room 1106. Traveling salesman for the Sonnebarn Paint Company. He loved to go to Georgia Tech football games and Atlanta Crackers baseball games. Photo circa 1922.

Edith Burch

Edith Duckworth Burch, 20. Chattanooga, Tennessee. Room 1008. Married eight months. On "second honeymoon" weekend. Native of Cumberland, Kentucky. Husband, George, survived the fire.

Walton Beck

Walton W. Beck, 47, Jacksonville, Florida. Room 1226. Owner of Beck Oil and Equipment Company. In Atlanta on business. Spent the week at the Winecoff Hotel.

Helen Walker

Helen Teach Walker, 31, Atlanta, Georgia, Room 528. Winecoff Hotel auditor. Vice-president of the Women's Chamber of Commerce. Scheduled to graduate from Atlanta Law School in five days and go to work for a judge in Metter, Georgia.

Joe Goodson

Joseph Arthur Goodson Jr., 35, Clay City, Illinois. Suite 1202-1204. Geologist for Pure Oil Company. Graduate of University of Kentucky. In route to Florida to recover from pneumonia. Husband of Gladys Goodson.

Gladys Goodson

Gladys Carlson Goodson, 29, Clay City, Illinois. Suite 1202-1204. Native of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Met husband when he was Gulf Oil scout there. Had reservations at another hotel but the room was given to someone else.

Joe Goodson III

Joseph Arthur Goodson III, 4, Clay City, Illinois. Suite 1202-1204. Son of Joe and Gladys Goodson.

Barbara Goodson

Barbara Beck Goodson, 1, Clay City, Illinois. Suite 1202-1204. Daughter of Joe and Gladys Goodson

Ed Thomas

Edward Owen Thomas, 55, Asheville, North Carolina. Room 1102. Owner of Thomas Buick and Asheville Truck and Equipment Company. In Atlanta to buy war-surplus vehicles. Scheduled to become Kiwanis Club president in January. Boy Scout leader.

Tona Perry

Tona Perry, 65, Tampa, Florida. Room 1402. Accompanied Matsey Dekle to Atlanta. Native of Tennessee.

Freddie Louise Pruitt

Freddie Louise Pruitt, 21, Atlanta Georgia. Room unknown. Moved to Atlanta to find secretarial work after graduating from high school in Lenoir City, Tennessee. Worked in downtown insurance office.

Emelda Reeves

Emelda Louise Reeves, 21, Atlanta, Georgia. Room unknown. Secretary for wholesale liquor distributor. Separated from husband. Mother of four year old son. Friend of Freddie Louise Pruitt who also died in the fire.

Harry Sorrells

Harry Sorrells, 47, Asheville, North Carolina. Room 928. Bus driver for Smokey Mountain Trailways. Staying in room rented permanently by the bus company. Loved to tinker with machinery. Father of two year old daughter.

Walter Baker

Walter Leon Baker, 41, Asheville, North Carolina. Room 1102. Vice president of Asheville Truck and Equipment Company. In Atlanta to buy war-surplus vehicles. Father of two children.

Matsey Dekle

Martha Hopkins Dekle, 69, Tampa, Florida. Room 1402. President of Dekle Holding Company. Native of Thomasville, Georgia. Staying in Atlanta while daughter and son-in-law visited new summer home in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Ralph Moody

Vernon Ralph Moody, 32, Arlington, Georgia. Suite 1210-12. Operator of a garage. Came to Atlanta to see about buying sawmill equipment. Accompanied by his friend, Billy Newberry, who survived the fire.

Mary Stinespring

Mary Stinespring, 58, Cornelia, Georgia. Room 1628. Accompanied neighbor and close friend, Louise Brown, to Atlanta on shopping trip. Widow and mother of five children. Active church worker.

Louise Brown

Louise Brown, 46, Cornelia, Georgia. Room 1628. In Atlanta for doctor's appointment

Dr. Carl Rasmussen

Dr. Carl Rasmussen, 49, Des Moines, Iowa. Room 1620. Small-town Midwest physican who joined Veterans Administration in May. Transferred to Atlanta in November. Staying at Winecoff until home ready. Scheduled to move out following week. Wife, Helen, survived the fire.

Frank Hale

Frank Hale, 31, Nashville, Tennessee, Room 1426. Machinist for United Shoe Machine Corporation. In Atlanta on business. Father of four year old daughter.

Jack Sheriff

Jack Bowen Sheriff, 32, Atlanta, Ga. Room 720. Owner of Jack Sheriff's Theater Restaurant, a night club next door to the Winecoff Hotel. Father of four childern. (Photo courtesy: the estate of Martha Ewing Manning, the club's manager.)

Harriett Strickland

Harriett Strickland, 16, Iron City, Georgia. Room 930. Youth Assembly delegate. President of Seminole High School senior class. Attended first Youth Assembly in March 1946.

Jeannette Riley

Jeannette Riley, 16, Donalsonville, Georgia. Room 930. Youth Assembly delegate. Senior at Seminole High School.

Jerry Jenkins

Jerry Jenkins, 15, Donalsonville, Georgia. Room 930. Youth Assembly delegate. Senior at Seminole High School. More here.
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Dorothy Tyner

Dorothy Marie Tyner, 16, Columbus, Georgia. Room 730. Youth Assembly observer. Senior at Baker Village High School. More photos: click here and here. Her parents' photo: click here.
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Nell Sims

Nell Zorn Sims, 33, Barnseville, Georgia. Room 1504. Photo circa 1931. Secretary at Aldora Mills. President of Business and Professional Women's Club. Came to Atlanta at the request of a friend who was buying a trousseau and meeting her fiancee.

Herbert Swanson

Herbert Edward Swanson, 38. Chicago, Illinois. Room 522. Associate editor of Rock Products, a trade publication serving the highway construction industry. Former State of Illinois, Division of Highways engineer. In Atlanta on editorial mission. More here.

Rutledge Minnix

Aubrey Rutledge Minnix Jr., 15. Columbus, Georgia. Room 1116. Youth Assembly delegate. Junior at Columbus High School. Member of student council and debate club.
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Cleve Sisk

Cleveland Dillard Sisk, 48, Asheville, North Carolina. Room 928. Bus driver for Smoky Mountain Trailways for 26 years. Staying in room permanently rented by bus company. Winner of safe driver award. Personalized belt buckle recovered from fire.

Grace Winecoff

Grace Smith Winecoff, 76, Atlanta, Georgia. Suite 1010-12. Wife of the hotel's builder, William Fleming Winecoff. Resident of the hotel for 31 years.

Mildred Boschung

Mildred Chandler Boschung, 23, Cullman, Alabama. Room 1208. Newlywed. Married exactly one week earlier. She was spending her honeymoon in Atlanta. Her husband, Charlie Boschung, survived the fire.

Robert Fluker

Robert Alvin Fluker, 41, Thomson, Ga. Room 702. Georgia Tech Graduate. Safety engineer for J.A. Jones Construction Co. Stopped in Atlanta for a dentist appointment before going overseas to rebuild Okinawa air base.

Sara Miller

Sara Baggett Miller, 34, Gordon, Ga. Suite 1108-1110-1112. Widow and mother of two children. Made bags for kaolin mining company. Came to Atlanta to shop with sister, Catherine McLaughlin, who survived the fire.

Irene Justice

Irene Delores Justice, 27, East Point, Ga. Room 624. Pictured here in 1934. Worked for firm in nearby Candler Building and attended law school at night.

Florence Baggett

Florence Allen Baggett, 43, Claxton, Ga. Room 1110-1112. One of best known auctioneers in Southeast. Came to Atlanta to see doctor about enlarged vocal chords.

William Winecoff

William Fleming Winecoff, 76, Atlanta, Ga. Suite 1010-1012. Built the Winecoff Hotel in 1913. Turned operation over to Robert Meyer chain in 1915. Sold hotel during Depression but continued to live there.

Bill Todd

Willian Barr Todd, 39, Columbia, South Carolina. Room 1214. South Carolina director of Civil Aeronautics Administration. In Atlanta to attend meeting at regional headquarters. Father of daughter born six weeks after the fire.