Age 35. 34 Fordham Road, West Newton (Newton), MA. Born 1/09/1907, in Roxbury (Boston), MA. Died of carbon monoxide poisoning (death certificate). Co-owner of Lowell Iron Foundry, Lowell, MA. Was taking his first day off since co-starting the business one year earlier. To the Grove with his fiancée-to-be Miss Mary Cummings, age 30 (Born 9/13/1912. Died 7/19/1978, in Boston, age 66. Never married), of Waltham, MA, injured. "She and McLaughlin were enjoying the night club program as the sequel to attendance at the Holy Cross-B.C. football game during the afternoon" (Waltham News-Tribune, 11/30/1942). Couple was preparing to leave when the fire erupted. One of 60 "probable identifications" listed Sunday morning at Southern Mortuary, Boston (all male). Observed from Boston City Hospital: "At the far end of the women's section, Mary Cummings...lay quietly and cheerfully...Miss Cummings had not heard whether her friend had survived the disaster" (The Boston Herald, 11/30/1942). Miss Cummings the following week to a reporter (from her hospital bed): "Arthur had told me he was giving me the ring for Christmas, but he's gone and it will be a sad Christmas" (Boston Daily Record, 12/10/1942). Was raised by his widowed mother in Waltham. Was a graduate of St. Charles High School, Waltham. Attended Wentworth Institute and Bentley School of Accounting and Finance, both in Boston. Was previously employed at Waltham Foundry Co., in Waltham ('41 street listings). Modest build (WWII draft registration, October '40: 5' 7½," 156 lbs.). One of 14 victims from the nearby Boston suburb of Newton (including its dozen-plus "villages"), and one of three dead from the village of West Newton (also married patrons Mr. and Mrs. John "Rollie" and Catherine "Kay" McCann, ages 43 and 32). Earned mention as a Grove victim in the June 1986 obituary of above Lowell iron foundry co-founder Joseph T. Burke, of Weston, MA (not present). Parents Mrs. Delia J. (Kenney) and the late Mr. Frederick J. McLaughlin. Burial at Calvary Cemetery, Waltham. Middle name Gerard.

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