52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History: Disasters

The picture above was taken in 1931 in Glendale California. California a place with it's share of natural disasters. My grandparent's Charles and Graciela Forgey settled in San Pedro California in 1925.
My grandmother Graciela (pictured left back row, see above) being a native of disaster prone Nicaragua often talked about the Volcano Momotombo which erupted in 1905 when she was a teenager. She remembered the ash raining down. However my favorite story was related to an earthquake she experienced when she was a teenager. My grandmother tended to be a high strung person (a trait I inherited from her). So I can imagine her panic when the earth started moving violently. She was in her family's home when the quake struck. When everything started coming down around her she began running for the door; the only thing she could grab was a picture of the Virgin Mary from the wall. When everything calmed down she noticed it was NOT a picture of the Virgin Mary after all , it was a picture of Simon Bolivar :D. Her family wondered of all things why would she save a picture of Simon Bolivar? They had a great laugh about it. I have always wondered what she did see in that picture? Was it some kind of apparition???