1906 S.F. earthquake’s last known survivor dies at 109

[KamaAina]

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Last-known-survivor-of-1906-S-F-earthquake-dies-6751833.php

The last known survivor of the great San Francisco earthquake and fire died Monday, three months shy of the 110th anniversary of the disaster that killed 3,000 people and forever changed the face of the city.

William A. Del Monte, who was known affectionately as “Uncle Bill,” died of natural causes Monday morning at a retirement home in Marin County, his relatives said. He was 109 — and just 11 days shy of another birthday.

The quick-witted Mr. Del Monte, a stock market trader almost until the day he died, was 3 months old when the earthquake hit at 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, so he didn’t remember his dramatic escape through the burning city on a horse-drawn buckboard wagon.

He was told that his mother bundled him up after the shaking stopped and ran out to the street where his father commandeered the rig, which they rode down to the waterfront as flames licked at them from all sides.

[RKP5637]

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