Services set for family, friend killed in Lake Street fire

Funeral services have been set for five members of a family killed in an April 2 fire that destroyed a south Minneapolis building that housed a popular bar and six apartments upstairs.

Ann Gervais, 43; her son, Andrew Gervais, 26, and his three children, Colton Gervais, 2, and 3-year-old twins Austin and Aliciah Gervais-Hjellming, were staying in a family friend's second-floor apartment above McMahon's Pub at 3001 E. Lake St. when the early-morning fire broke.

Ryan Richner, 25, the family friend who worked as a bartender at McMahon's, also was killed.

Ann Gervais is survived by two other sons, Matthew and Dillon, both of Minneapolis; a daughter, Champagne Gervais, of Minneapolis; three sisters, Lillian Bunge of Minneapolis, Betty Kettler of Mora, Minn., and Dawn Farr of Pennington, Minn., and three grandchildren.

Andrew Gervais is survived by his father, Keith, of Minneapolis; brothers Matthew and Dillon and sister Champagne.

The children are survived by their mother, Savannah Hjellming, of St. Francis.

On Sunday, a public memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. at the intersection of E. Lake Street and 30th Avenue S. in Minneapolis to remember all six victims. The Rev. Joseph Gillespie of the Church of St. Albert the Great in Minneapolis and Kimberly Lueck, a Buddhist minister, will be among the speakers who will "commemorate the tragic fire and bring the community and neighborhood together and acknowledge what happened," said Elizabeth Palmer, a member of the Longfellow Community Council.

Funeral services for the Gervais family will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Minneapolis American Indian Center, 1530 Franklin Av. E., Minneapolis, with the Rev. Brook Kurth officiating.

Services for Richner will be held on April 30.