The Boston Globe

Firefighters sprayed water into the club after smashing through the thick glass windows the night of the tragic fire.

By Melissa M. Werthmann Globe Correspondent

It was Nov. 28, 1942. Thomas and Catherine O’Neil had just gone to the Boston College-Holy Cross football game and were at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub for dinner and dancing.

The O’Neils shared a meal with Thomas’s younger sister, Isabelle O’Neil, and her date, William O’Connor, and were ready to head home. Isabelle went to use the restroom, while the others paid the bill and got the coats.

“Shortly thereafter, the fire came up the stairs from the Melody Lounge and the smoke pushed them back away from the only doorway that was available to them at the time,” said Christopher O’Neil, grandson of Thomas, a 48-year-old Registry of Motor Vehicles inspector, and Catherine, 43, of New Bedford.

O’Neil’s grandparents and great-aunt Isabelle were three of the 492 people killed in Boston’s deadliest fire to date. Isabelle, 35, worked at B.M.C. Durfee High School in Fall River. O’Connor, 35, a doctor, fell to the floor when the smoke filled the club, but was able to escape.

To mark the 70th anniversary of the tragedy, the O’Neil grandchildren are announcing a foundation named in honor of Thomas H. and Catherine D. O’Neil to benefit pediatric burn victims and their families, O’Neil said.

“We started it as our own means of giving back on their behalf,” he said. “We thought it was important to do something, even though it’s been 70 years. All of the victims need to be memorialized in some way and this is our response to that need.”

The charity has been in the works since February, but the founders are still waiting for approval from the IRS, he said.