English Department Lecturer Virginia (Ginny) L. Brereton passed away in her third-floor Brookline condominium early Friday morning in a three-alarm blaze.
Brereton was the only casualty resulting from the fire, which is being blamed on an unattended candle on a first-floor porch. The fire traveled rapidly upwards from porch to porch, successively engulfing each level's condominium.
According to the Boston Globe, Brereton died around 4 a.m. as a result of excessive exposure to heat and the "inhalation of poisonous gases." Her husband, John, was badly injured in the fire and was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital.
Professor Jonathan Wilson, chair of the Tufts English Department, expressed his deep sorrow for Brereton's death. "We're all going to miss her very much," he said.
Wilson spoke about how she combined her love of the outdoors with her teaching. "She was a very outdoorsy person, and brought that fresh air, so to speak, into her classroom," he said.
Wilson mentioned that Brereton was an avid rock-climber, and that her active and passionate existence belied the fact that she was 60 years old. "Just by looking at her, you would never have gotten the impression that she was 60," Wilson said. "She had this wonderfully youthful and rosy quality about her."
In a school-wide e-mail notifying the community about Brereton's death, Dean of Arts and Sciences Susan Ernst noted how Brereton had created a course entitled "Imagining the Mountains." The course, which was taught at Tufts' European Center in Talloires, combined English class with unique perspectives on nature.
Ernst's e-mail also lauded Breredon's tireless devotion to her students and advisees,
noting how she "[spent] long hours helping them improve their writing skills."
Wilson said that Brereton was an exceptionally popular teacher among her students, and consistently enjoyed excellent student evaluations.
Sophomore Alaina Thiel, who had Brereton for English 1 last year, was among those students enamored with her teaching abilities and sparkling personality. "Professor Brereton was a really unique teacher ... she was never afraid to just be herself, and that was really inspiring to me," Thiel said. "Hers was just a fun class to be in."
Thiel was stunned to learn about her former teacher's untimely death. "It shocked me...[the news] literally took my breath away," she said. "My heart goes out to her family, which we had heard so much about throughout the semester."
Brereton is survived by her husband, Jack, and her two sons, Richard and Jay.
