Cat who saved family from 1934 fire in Norristown, Pa., inspires children's book nearly 90 years later – CBS News

Cat who saved family from 1934 fire in Norristown, Pa., inspires children’s book nearly 90 years later  CBS News

Three generations of one family are alive today thanks to a very special cat, while her nearly century-old legacy helps teach a new generation of children how to stay safe.In her Wilmington, Delaware, home, 98-year-old Pearly Mae Wright Robinson looked back through family photos, which almost weren't taken. In the winter of 1934, Pearly was just 6 years old when a fire at the house next door sent smoke into her family's home in Norristown, Pennsylvania."Come to find out, the house next door was on fire and the smoke was coming up in our place," she remembered. "And we were all asleep."There were no smoke detectors then, but there was Bessie.

Pearly said the cat had walked in off the street about six months earlier."And Bessie went from room to room, meowing, waking us up," she said. Bessie's warning gave the family time to get out. Decades later, Pearly's 68-year-old son, Rob, heard the incredible story — and turned it into a children's book called Bessie: The Cat Who Saved My Family. "We really believe that this cat was sent to our house for a mission – one mission," he said. "To save our family."The book was not just about one family's survival. It also shared important lessons that could help other families survive a similar emergency.Richard Lockhart, Deputy Fire