We know some of you may tire of the annual updates about the remaining, extremely elderly survivors of the 1906 earthquake and fire, but dammit, you should find it remarkable that there still are any. God bless 'em, there are three remaining folks still kicking down from five last year who were children or infants at the time the quake struck San Francisco, 107 years ago. And this was the first year that none were able to attend the annual 5:11 a.m. memorial ceremony at Lotta's Fountain, which may be lucky given they might have had to endure the stress of the bomb squad getting called in.
One survivor, Bill Del Monte, managed to make it to the annual survivors' dinner at John's Grill yesterday afternoon. “I’m still here,” he apparently said. “They’re having trouble getting rid of me.” Del Monte is exactly 107 years old, having been born just four months before the quake, on January 1, 1906.
The oldest known survivor, Ruth Newman, is 110, lives in Pebble Beach, and for obvious reasons did not make it up here for the festivities today. She did not make it up last year, either.
Winnie Hook, 107, did attend the festivities last year, but was not able to make it this year. And George Quilici, who attended the early-morning memorial in 2012 along with Ms. Hook, died six weeks later on May 31, 2012 at the age of 107.
