The family fell apart after Queens’ great-grandmother, 96, was killed by arson on a neighbor’s first floor

Queens’ beloved great-grandmother, Marie Helene Michaud, lived nearly a century before a fire destroyed her home.

Her death has been ruled a homicide as police continue to search for the fire beetle. Her family says that without her, everything won’t be the same.

“She saw wars, civil rights movements, many, many interesting presidential elections and the advancement of technology, and I know she enjoyed and loved it all,” one of her grandchildren told mourners at her funeral.

“She really wanted to see everything.”

The fatal fire was started around 3:33 p.m. on July 11 last year at the residence on 86th Drive near 209th St. in Queens Village. Michaud, who was admitted to Calvary Hospital in critical condition, died five weeks later at age 96 after being transferred to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx.

Her death was not reported at the time, but this month the NYPD released surveillance footage of the suspected arsonist — and is asking the public for help in identifying and ultimately finding him. Four other people injured in the fire have recovered.

Darnell Michaud, another grandson of the victim, told the Daily News last week at his home in Elmont, L.I., that his grandmother was the glue that held the extended family together. She had eight children, 19 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren – and still had a lot of life to live.

“Her temper was always trying to keep her mind active. Keep them in mind. She used to read. She taught us, helped us with our homework and so on. She helped us,” Darnell said. “She wanted us all to live our lives to the fullest.”

The nonagenarian was born and raised in Haiti and widowed decades before her death. She raised several of her grandchildren, including Darnell, in the apartment where the fire later broke out.

“She cooked Haitian food and made Haitian medicine. She would make rice with black bean sauce. That’s what I grew up with,” Darnell Michaud said. “Even if I try to imitate it or ask her for the recipe, I can’t really make it like her. It doesn’t come out like hers.”

“They thought I would take it the hardest because since I was a child it was always my grandmother I ran to,” he said of her death.

“As a child, I simply loved my grandmother. I just loved her. They always said I don’t trust anyone. Even when I was 3, 3 years old, my mother and father came, I never ran to them. But I just sat right next to my grandmother. I wouldn’t take care of her for nothing.”

Khorran Simmons, 22, who also lives in the building, said he alerted neighbors when he saw the smoke.

“Smoke was coming from the door and I go to see what caused the fire and see it’s a mattress. I tried to turn on the water, but the (tenant’s) faucet didn’t have a button, so I ran upstairs,” he said.

“I ran upstairs and tried to grab a bucket of water, but the bucket was a bit heavy and it took a while to fill up in the bathtub. So I just ran upstairs and knocked on all the doors and shouted, ‘Fire!’ Fire!” People came out.”

Simmons saw Marie Helene Michaud lying on a stretcher, unconscious but breathing, on the day of the fire. He thought she would survive.

“All my life I knew her family lived up there my whole life,” he said.

Darnell Michaud credits Simmons with saving the lives of his aunt and others in the building.

“They said the whole room was filled with smoke,” Darnell said. “I think my aunt fainted too. They said without them (firefighters) and knocking and getting people out, they didn’t think they would wake up or make it.”

Marie Helene Michaud was unconscious for a week after the fire and despite the efforts of medical staff, the smoke inhalation eventually proved too much for her.

“They said she had smoke in her lungs. And she kept asking them to take the (breathing) tube out,” her grandson said. “It bothered her, but that’s what keeps her breathing.”

“She was given a ventilator first, then a trachea,” he added. “And you know she had a heart problem too.”

She died on August 18th.

Michaud’s funeral was held a week after her death on August 25 at Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church in Queens Village.

During the service, Michaud was eulogized by a grandson in a tribute peppered with French phrases.

“My grandmother lived a phenomenal life,” the grandson said. “To put it in context of how phenomenal it is, the first electronic television broadcast was shown on September 7, 1927. Grandma was born almost a year earlier, on November 27, 1926.”

“She was curious. She was curious. “She loved to laugh and always had to get her own way,” he added.

Darnell Michaud reflected on life without his grandmother last week.

“I would visit her every day,” he said. “When I moved (to Long Island), I withdrew a little bit. But you know, that’s my grandma, so I go there every Thanksgiving… I’ll be with my grandma. My grandma, she will be waiting for us. She held it together. Now that she’s not here, I don’t think people will reach out as much.”

“I would say we probably all split off,” he said now of his family. “We don’t keep in touch as often anymore.”

“I really, really feel like something is missing,” he added.

Anyone with information about the suspected arsonist is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls are treated confidentially.