Man who died in Central Kentucky fire remembered as ‘a dear, open-hearted person’
The victim of a deadly fire in Bourbon County early Thursday morning was a Lexington choir member and grocery store employee who was loved for his joyful, kind-hearted demeanor, friends said.
Martin Crowley, 40, died in a fire at the house on Millersburg Road outside Paris where he lived with his parents.
The home was engulfed in flames when crews arrived at about 3 a.m. Thursday, and winds made fighting the fire difficult, WKYT reported.
Bourbon County Coroner Dee Gee Ison-Roe told the television station that Crowley’s mother was also inside at the time of the fire but was able to escape without being hurt. She said she was tentatively identifying Martin Crowley as the deceased pending an autopsy that was to be completed Friday.
Crowley was a choir member at Christ Church Cathedral and worked at the Beaumont Kroger store in Lexington.
Erich Balling has known Crowley since 2005, when Balling became canon musician at the church.
“Martin was one of the kindest and gentlest people I’ve met in life,” he wrote in an email. “Martin was a person of great faith in God. He demonstrated that faith by how he treated others. With respect, dignity and deep friendships with all those who knew and loved him.”
He said Crowley was a boy chorister at Christ Church Cathedral in the 1990s and went on to sing bass in the cathedral choir as an adult. Balling said he traveled overseas to sing with the cathedral choir on numerous tours.
And he said Crowley was also an ardent University of Kentucky and Cincinnati Reds fan.
“It is hard to understand or make sense of this unimaginable loss,” Balling wrote in a Facebook post. “Martin was a dear, open-hearted person and a friend to all who knew him. God is always with us during the most challenging days. As the Psalmist writes, we put our trust in God who made the heavens, earth and all who live therein.”
“This is absolutely devastating,” Marshall Jolly wrote in a comment. “I can’t think of the choir without Martin.”
Brent Owens commented, “Martin was amazing. I learned much from him, and he always had a kind word.”
In a post about Crowley on Facebook, Rachel Brown asked for prayers for Crowley’s friends and family and “the Beaumont Kroger family.”
“This guy was the happiest and kindest gentlemen I’ve ever met and he was by far the BIGGEST UK and Cincinnati Reds fan,” she wrote. “I will miss talking about baseball with this guy and seeing his smiling face. I hope the Reds win the World Series next year and UK basketball/football goes far, for Martin.”
