[Evans, Marv]

I sent a birthday message to a friend of mine I've known for 65 years, since we were kids in elementary school. I hadn't heard from him in a long time. I wasn't concerned about it since he's always a busy guy. I was flabbergasted to get his answer after a few days. He lives in a rural area of the Owens Valley area of CA. The "Jeff" he refers to is his son who lives next door to him. Below.

"Hi, Marv, thanks for the birthday greeting. I’ve been out of touch since I lost my house to the Round Fire in early Feb. Jeff lost his, too. Nothing left at all, and I was away so could not salvage anything. Pretty tough for the first few weeks, since I had had a fire safe for my valuables, including my savings- I had been the victim of identity fraud a couple of years ago. I can tell you 100% Fire safes aren’t, no matter what you paid for one. In a real house fire, windstorm, such as we had, my safe left no remnant to be found. The garage and shop were lost, too. My new car melted and so did my motorcycle. Everything was a total loss, and it turns out that I am underinsured, since it was based on the collapse of ’08-’10. Taking some adjusting. I’m looking for a small travel trailer while Jeff and I rebuild. Of course this time, I won’t be doing the work myself- I’m too old and slow for that now. What I did not lose was the love of family and friends. Stuff is stuff. However, pictures, mementoes, letters, art work, computer and backup are all gone. Sigh."

P.S. The last time I saw him was a few years ago when he stopped by when being treated for prostate cancer at Loma Linda.