Memorials › Ryan James Stewart
Ryan James Stewart
18 May 1987 – 17 Nov 2006
| Birth | 18 May 1987 |
| Death | 17 Nov 2006 |
| Cemetery | Ord Cemetery Ord , Valley County , Nebraska , USA |
| Added by | Kathy Burgess Burr on 20 Jul 2023 |
| FaG | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16749715 |
Bio
Son of James & Mary Ann (Lech) Stewart. From the Grand Island, NE. "Independent" Newspaper: The Nebraska Wesleyan University student who died Friday of injuries suffered in an early-morning fire at a fraternity was from Ord, a hospital spokeswoman said. St. Elizabeth Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Jan Yaussi identified the victim as Ryan Stewart, 19, of Ord. Nebraska Wesleyan spokeswoman Sara Olson said Stewart was a sophomore business administration major who graduated from Ord High School in 2004-05. Three other students were in critical condition at the Lincoln hospital, Olson said. Olson identified two of them as David Spittler, 20, of Elkhorn and Travis Mann, 22, of Beatrice. Both were in critical condition due to smoke inhalation, Olson said. Yaussi said Aaron McGuire, 20, of Sioux Falls, S.D., was also in critical condition because of smoke inhalation. All were members of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. Olson said Stewart was a new student orientation leader at Nebraska Wesleyan and was active in intramurals, specifically flag football and sand volleyball. She said Stewart had been part of the fraternity for three semesters. Olson said fraternity friends described Stewart's leisure interests as techno-music and country music and being with his friends. "We are deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death of one of our students," the university said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are also with three other students who are currently being treated at a local hospital." School counselors were called in to comfort other students. Fire officials said the fire started just after 4 a.m. at the fraternity house. Lincoln Fire Chief Dan Wright said the blaze started in a second-story room and that state and local officials were investigating the cause. Three students in the house at the time of the fire said they couldn't recall hearing a fire alarm. Wright said somebody must have pulled the alarm because firefighters heard it when they reached the fire. He said he did not know whether smoke alarms in the building malfunctioned and that was being investigated. Olson said the smoke alarms worked. A statement released by the National Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity said the house was built in 1928 and is on the National Historic Register. It said a fraternity member activated the fire alarm. Police officers on the scene had executed a search warrant and were looking through the building. "We're interviewing people, looking for a cause, anything at this point," said Lincoln Police Sgt. Tom Towle. The students, who declined to give their names citing an agreement among the fraternity brothers, were still shaken five hours after the blaze was extinguished. They described a frantic scene at the time of the fire, with at least two students jumping out of windows and others inside, shirts pulled over their mouths to reduce smoke inhalation, trying desperately to wake up other students and alert them to the fire. None responded when asked whether there was any late-night partying at the house, but they said they and all the other students they were aware of were asleep when it started. Greg and Diann Bergt of Omaha got a call from their 20-year-old son shortly after the blaze started. "I couldn't understand what he was saying," said Greg Bergt while standing outside the Knight Field House where residents of the fraternity house, counselors and family members were gathered. "I thought he was saying the car was on fire." "I said, 'Who is this?' and he said, 'It's Ross. The Phi Kappa Tau house is on fire."' Their son was crying as he spoke. The house did not have a sprinkler system, which Chief Wright said could have reduced the severity of the fire. Firefighters said 39 people believed to be in the house at the time were accounted for, and the fire was extinguished by 7 a.m. "We were told nobody can go in it until the investigation is complete," Olson said of the Phi Kappa Tau house. "There was a lot of damage done. It'll be a while before anyone can move back in." Officials moved the Phi Kappa Tau members into a vacant section of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority house on the campus for housing while the fraternity house is uninhabitable, Olson said. Phi Kappa Tau National President Charlie Bell is to meet on campus with the chapter throughout the weekend, along with representatives from the national staff. Nebraska Wesleyan is a Methodist Church-affiliated liberal arts college founded in 1887. There are 1,800 students enrolled there, according to the university's Web site.
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