Syracuse, NY - About two dozen family members stood around Darlene Bielby Givens’ bedside at Upstate University Hospital, crying, laughing and telling stories for hours Saturday until the 50-year-old Syracuse woman died from injuries suffered in a fire at her home. “We all told her how much we were going to miss her and how much we loved her,”...
Darlene Bielby Givens, 50, died Saturday hours after Syracuse firefighters pulled her from her burning 302 LaForte Ave. home. “We all told her how much we were going to miss her and how much we loved her,” said her oldest sister, Linda Murphy, of East Syracuse. “I kept saying, ‘I hope you hear me.’”
At 6:11 a.m. Saturday, firefighters found Bielby Givens slumped over on her living room couch with flames spreading through her kitchen at 302 LaForte Ave., Syracuse Fire Lt. Ken Heffernan said.
“The case is still under investigation,” Heffernan said Sunday, “but we are looking at a potential accidental ignition of the fire.”
Bielby Givens’ dog, Cha Cha, also died in the fire.
Bielby Givens’ 24-year-old son, Cory Bielby, who lived with his mother, was working a midnight to 7 a.m. shift at the Sunoco gas station at Genesee and North Geddes streets when a cousin called to say his house was on fire and his mother was being taken to the hospital, according to Bielby Givens’ sister Sandy Proia, who lives in Las Vegas.
Cory Bielby and Bielby Givens’ husband, Mark Givens, who did not reside at LaForte Avenue, were among those at the hospital, Murphy said.
Bielby Givens had inhaled too much smoke and had burns on her arms, hands and back, Murphy said. Doctors and nurses took her off life support, and at about 11:14 a.m., Bielby Givens was pronounced dead.
“She had a big heart,” Proia said. “She’d do anything for anybody.”
Bielby Givens started taking care of her sister Karen’s son, Cory, when he was 3, and soon after adopted him.
She also took care of her mother, Harriett Bielby, who suffers from dementia and has lived at James Square Nursing Home for the past seven years.
“Darlene was the one who took care of our mom, went up there, clothed her, took her home for holidays, sat with her when she was sick, sat at doctor’s appointments,” Proia said. “She did a lot for our mom.”
Bielby Givens also has a son, Jason Post, 26, and a grandson, Proia said.
Bielby Givens grew up in Syracuse and attended Henninger High School in the 1970s, her family said. She worked various jobs, including cleaning at St. Joseph’s Health Hospital and serving customers at the former Dad’s Deli.
For the last several years, Bielby Givens suffered from chronic obstruction pulmonary disease. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2009, but it was in remission, Murphy said.
“She was a happy-go-lucky, fun person to be around,” Murphy said. “We had a good time when we around Dar. She always made us laugh. There was never a dull moment.”
Contact Catie O’Toole at cotoole@syracuse.com or 470-2134.