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Wendy Flajsner was a member of our book club
until several years ago, when she and
her family (daughter Carly, son, Max, and husband, Cyril) moved back to England.
Wendy was a pharmacist by trade when in England. While in Madison she was
a member
of two book clubs and she and Carly also participated in a mother-child
book club at
the Madison Public Library. She was also a member of Mother's Morning Out.
We recently learned of her tragic death.
Below is the BBC report.
The Lizards have made a donation to the Madison Public Library
in memory of Wendy, and may join financial
forces with another book club Wendy
belonged to, and with Mother's Morning Out, who also want to contribute
to a
memorial. The original memorial idea is for a tree, with a plaque.
Last
Updated: Wednesday, 29 August 2007, 17:06 GMT 18:06 UK
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Fumes killed Paris fire victims
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Fumes from a fire which tore through a Parisian apartment block
killed three sleeping friends, an inquest heard.
Caroline Brenton and Wendy Flajsner had been celebrating
Tina Smithson's 46th birthday at a friend's flat on Rue Des Innocents in
the Les Halles district. The inquest heard Ms Brenton, 46, from
Winchester, Hampshire, Ms Flajsner, 44, and Miss Smithson had been
sleeping. A Dorset coroner said Miss Smithson, of Middlesex, died
due to an accident after the fire started downstairs.
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 It would appear the three
ladies were asleep there and sadly they died as a result of the
fumes caused by the smoke and fire 
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The inquest into Miss Smithson's death heard the trio
had taken the Eurostar for a long weekend.
Miss Flajsner's daughter Carly was living in Paris and
joined her mother for the break, but decided to go out that night while
the three women stayed in.
Bournemouth, Poole and East Dorset Coroner's Court heard
on that the fire "started in a child's buggy on the ground floor and
spread to a lead gas pipe supplying the upper floors of the 18th Century
building".
A flare burned for an hour on the pipe while the gas
company struggled to turn off the supply. It spread up the wooden
staircase which collapsed from the second floor upwards and destroyed
the fifth-floor and a penthouse on the sixth floor.
The three women were later identified by DNA and a
post-mortem examination showed they died of acute carbon monoxide
poisoning. Coroner Sheriff Payne told the inquest: "A fire broke out
after midnight whilst the daughter of one of the friends was absent from
the apartment.
Gas supply
"After the fire started it proved impossible to turn the
supply off for at least an hour. "Gas was continuing to provide a flame.
"It would appear the three ladies were asleep there and
sadly they died as a result of the fumes caused by the smoke and fire."
The inquest heard Miss Smithson studied law at
Nottingham University and was fluent in Greek. After the
fire, the Foreign Office released details about Mrs Brenton, who worked
as a pharmacist and lived in St Cross, Winchester, Hampshire, with her
partner and two children. "There was no evidence to suggest the fire was
started deliberately," added the coroner.
"There would appear to be criticisms of the use of lead piping for
the supply of gas and the fact that the gas supply could not be easily
turned off."
Manchester Evening News
Three die on Paris birthday trip
Lesley Richardson
30/ 8/2007
A SOLICITOR and her two friends died just hours after celebrating her
birthday when fire tore through an apartment block in Paris.
Tina Smithson (pictured), 46, Caroline Brenton, 46, and Wendy Flajsner,
44, were killed by the fumes as they slept in the fifth-floor flat, an
inquest heard.
They were staying in a friend's apartment.
They had taken the Eurostar for a long weekend to celebrate Miss
Smithson's birthday. Miss Flajsner's daughter Carly was living in
Paris and joined her mother for the break but went out that night
while the three women stayed in.
A fire started in a child's buggy on the ground floor and spread to a
lead pipe supplying gas to the upper floors of the 18th century
building, the inquest in Bournemouth was told.
A flare burned for an hour on the pipe while the gas company struggled
to turn off the supply. It spread up the wooden staircase which
collapsed from the second floor upwards and destroyed the fifth floor
and a penthouse on the sixth floor.
A passer-by saw smoke coming from the lobby and alerted staff at a
ground-floor pizza restaurant in the building. They called for help.
An investigation by Paris police revealed there had been a party on
the third floor in the block.
Three men in their 20s were also seen taking drugs and drinking in the
lobby, with one of the men asking for a light for his cigarette before
the blaze.
No proof
But the investigation found no proof or cause for the fire.
The three women were identified by DNA. A post mortem showed they died
of acute carbon monoxide poisoning. Coroner Sheriff Payne said that
Miss Smithson, who was single, worked as a solicitor and lived in
Harrow, Middlesex, died `as a result of an accident'.
He said: "A fire broke out after midnight whilethe daughter of one of
the friends was absent from the apartment. "The fire seems to have
started by a buggy stored at the foot of the wooden stairs leading to
the upper floors. "The effect of the fire has been to melt the lead
piping used in that area."
Mr Payne also said: "There was no evidence to suggest the fire was
started deliberately.
"There would appear to be criticisms of the use of lead piping for the
supply of gas and the fact that the gas supply could not be easily
turned off." Mrs Brenton was.a pharmacist and lived in
Hampshire. The inquest was only on Miss Smithson.
The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7449 p509
28 April 2007
Obituaries & tributes
Wendy Jill Flajsner
Flajsner On 10 March, Wendy Jill Flajsner
(née Cuncliffe), MRPharmS, aged 44, of Algar House, Algar Road,
Fersfield, Diss, Norfolk IP22 2BQ. Mrs Flajsner registered in 1984.
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