Four fire victims remembered at school

WOONSOCKET, R.I. (WPRI) - Four good friends who all went to the same school -- Mount Saint Charles Academy -- are being remembered by coaches, teachers and students, after the four died in a fire over the weekend.

The president of Mount Saint Charles, Herve Richer, said Monday that Nicholas Jillson, 24, Dan Janik, 20, Amanda Villeneuve, 21, and Tayla Lackey,20, left their mark on the school.

"Nick was a very good hockey player, Dan was a very good basketball player...

"Tayla was a quiet girl. Again, she was a hockey player as well.

"Amanda enjoyed life in her own way; all four of them did. They were all lively young people."

Mount, as the school is colloquially known, was founded by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in 1924. The student body begins every school day with a prayer. Monday's prayer was for the four former students -- and the baby girl of one of them.

The group had continued their friendship beyond the halls of high school.

Dan and Amanda were engaged, and had a 7-month-old baby named Annabelle. Friday night, the group was spending the weekend at the house on Buttonwoods Ave. in Warwick. They were asleep when the fire started.

"You don't expect young people to lose their lives and... when you have four of them-- that we consider to be our own-- lose their lives, it's all the more difficult."

Teachers and coaches have reached out to the victims' families. Grief counselors have also been in touch with Mount alums, who are trying to make sense of the sudden loss of their classmates and friends.

"I've been in the school 27 years," said Richer, "and over the years we've had our share of losses, but to say that you've had four young men and women lost at the same time...

"We've never experienced anything like that."