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

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 Chief for the Norristown Fire Department, thumbed through the back of the book.

"The Fire Safety Checklist in here, you can't beat that," Lockhart said. 

He said those lessons could make a difference for kids, even today.

"The more they can read and understand that this is what I need to do in case of an emergency, it pays dividends," Lockhart said. 

And as children continued to read Bessie's story today, Rob was reminded of the cat who gave his family a second chance. He continued to be grateful. Even though the cat walked away from the house just weeks after the fire. He said Bessie never came back.

"Some angels have fur," he said. 

The Norristown Fire Department offers a free smoke detector program. Wilmington Fire Department also offers free smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors for homeowners.