Valdez 1964 - EARTHQUAKE!
My family had relocated from Valdez to Hamburg, NY, in the fall of 1962. I remained behind in Alaska to finish out my junior year of high school at Copper Valley School. In May of 1963, as I was completing my final exams, I was notified that my Aunt Betty, who had gone to Anchorage with my Uncle Phil to have pins removed from a repaired broken jaw, had unexpectedly died in a dentist's chair!
I immediately finished my last exam and was driven to Anchorage where I represented my family at Aunt Betty's funeral. She was buried in what is now the Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery, in downtown Anchorage
I flew back to join my family in Hamburg after the funeral service, so I was not in Alaska to graduate with my Copper Valley School classmates.
Fortunately.
While I kept in close touch with my friends from Alaska, I had returned to Hamburg High School to finish my public schooling. It was there, on our Easter Break in March of 1964, that I first heard that a large earthquake had struck just off the Alaskan coast, near Valdez. It was Good Friday and news was hard to come by. After some attempts to find out details, I contacted the Buffalo Evening News to give them some background about Valdez (they were calling it Val DEZ, short- e and I had to correct that!). Hearing my story and knowing I would not get ready information, someone there hooked me up with a ham radio operator who was receiving information about casualties and damage. As I observed the first lists of fatalities from Valdez, I was quite disturbed to find name of my best Alaskan classmate-friend, Harry Henderson, on the list. This disturbed me but I needed to know more. Harry was a 'junior" and his dad was also a Harry!
It was several days before it became clear that the Harry listed as a casualty (Missing), was the senior, Harry's dad.
Our newspaper boy when I lived there, the school's basketball coach, several others I knew by name, were all at the dock on that fateful afternoon, unloading the Chena, a large ocean-going vessel that delivered supplies on Friday to be trucked north to Fairbanks. Many of the young men of the town were on the dock earning extra money unloading the Chena when the earthquake occurred. The dock collapsed, the Chena bottomed out, and all those on the dock were cast into the bay. Almost immediately a Sunami followed, lifting the Chena into the center of town and back. All on the dock were washed away, several on the Chena crushed by falling debris.
And my friend Harry's dad was with his fishing boat at the family camp/house just outside the Valdez Narrows. Here, it was later learned, the Sunami had risen to a height of 38 feet as it rushed into the bay.
Harry's dad, the boat, and the family camp were all washed away never to be found. Harry's home in the town was damaged beyond repair.
Had I remained at Copper Valley School for my senior year, chances are good that I would have spent that vacation with Harry and his family.
I dodged a very lethal bullet.
While there is much more to say regarding this tragic event, I leave this personal story as a reminder that life can be fleeting and nature savage.
I immediately finished my last exam and was driven to Anchorage where I represented my family at Aunt Betty's funeral. She was buried in what is now the Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery, in downtown Anchorage
I flew back to join my family in Hamburg after the funeral service, so I was not in Alaska to graduate with my Copper Valley School classmates.
Fortunately.
While I kept in close touch with my friends from Alaska, I had returned to Hamburg High School to finish my public schooling. It was there, on our Easter Break in March of 1964, that I first heard that a large earthquake had struck just off the Alaskan coast, near Valdez. It was Good Friday and news was hard to come by. After some attempts to find out details, I contacted the Buffalo Evening News to give them some background about Valdez (they were calling it Val DEZ, short- e and I had to correct that!). Hearing my story and knowing I would not get ready information, someone there hooked me up with a ham radio operator who was receiving information about casualties and damage. As I observed the first lists of fatalities from Valdez, I was quite disturbed to find name of my best Alaskan classmate-friend, Harry Henderson, on the list. This disturbed me but I needed to know more. Harry was a 'junior" and his dad was also a Harry!
It was several days before it became clear that the Harry listed as a casualty (Missing), was the senior, Harry's dad.
Our newspaper boy when I lived there, the school's basketball coach, several others I knew by name, were all at the dock on that fateful afternoon, unloading the Chena, a large ocean-going vessel that delivered supplies on Friday to be trucked north to Fairbanks. Many of the young men of the town were on the dock earning extra money unloading the Chena when the earthquake occurred. The dock collapsed, the Chena bottomed out, and all those on the dock were cast into the bay. Almost immediately a Sunami followed, lifting the Chena into the center of town and back. All on the dock were washed away, several on the Chena crushed by falling debris.
And my friend Harry's dad was with his fishing boat at the family camp/house just outside the Valdez Narrows. Here, it was later learned, the Sunami had risen to a height of 38 feet as it rushed into the bay.
Harry's dad, the boat, and the family camp were all washed away never to be found. Harry's home in the town was damaged beyond repair.
Had I remained at Copper Valley School for my senior year, chances are good that I would have spent that vacation with Harry and his family.
I dodged a very lethal bullet.
While there is much more to say regarding this tragic event, I leave this personal story as a reminder that life can be fleeting and nature savage.
The Chena at the Valdez town dock, pre 1964 earthquake
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Harry's parents, left, and Harry with others from Copper Valley, unloading a load of fish donated to the school... ca. 1962
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