The fire that almost took everything

Details

CreatorCrocker, DonLanguageengCollectionYour Story is the Peninsula's Story CollectionDescriptionThese few photo album pages are but a few that survived a fire in Rolling Hills in 1973 that burned down 12 houses, including mine. You can see the burned marks on the pages. My wife Mary Lou rescued these from a burned photo album. The house and most of our other belongings were destroyed. Our kids escaped to their grandparents house on horseback and thankfully we were all OK. This is Tenzing Norgay, and I met him and his wife Daku while on a trekking expedition to the Mount Everest base camp in 1969 with mountaineer Luke Jerstad. Wherever we went people wanted to meet Tenzing since he was so famous. We brought along a soccer ball and played soccer with the children along as we trekked. With the empty food cans we played 'kick the can'. The kids would take these back to their stone homes as kitchen utensils. Tenzing always wanted to see Marineland. A year after our trek he came and stayed with us for a few nights, and my wife Mary Lou took him to see Marineland. Marineland took the photo and gave us one and one for Tenzing. These letters document a donation I made to help create a hospital for Sherpas in the Solu-Khumbu district of Nepal. Tenzing gave my donation to Sir Edmund Hillary, who was leading the efforts to create the hospital. The 1973 fire inspired me to run for City Council. I ran in 1974 and served for eight years. During my tenure we eliminated wood shake roofing material, the cause of the fire that almost took everything."Held ByPalos Verdes Library District. Peninsula Center Library. Local History CenterRestrictions on AccessElectronically digitized by the Palos Verdes Library District. Copyright status must be investigated before publishing or commercial use. To obtain permission and images for publication purposes please contact the Palos Verdes Library District.Notes[Item includes three photo album pages.]External Link'Beauty and the Beast by Don Crocker', a video of 2016 California Listens - Palos Verdes Digital Storytelling workshop.

Topic

SubjectLettersWildfiresPhotograph albumsMarinelandHillary, Edmund, 1919-2008Tenzing Norkey, 1914-1986Time Period1961-1970

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Capture Date20230816Capture DeviceScannXCapture OperatorMLS

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