Colton, CA—The Eaton, Palisades and Hughes fires have made headlines over the past few weeks, destroying around 15,000 structures in Los Angeles county and damaging thousands more.
One of those homes belonged to Altadena resident, and CHS alum Kenny Wilson.
Wilson, a graduate with the class of 1962, lived in his home for the last 52 years. “We’re still dealing with it. It’s all awful,” Wilson said. “We got some things, but some of the more important things we had to evacuate. They made us leave, and we couldn’t spend the time. So, you know, we just didn’t get everything we wanted.”
Among the things left behind were all four of his high school yearbooks from 1959-1962.
However, on Jan. 27, Colton High’s yearbook staff invited Wilson to visit campus to receive four fresh copies of those yearbooks. With a major assist from ASB, the yearbook and Pepper Bough teams welcomed Wilson with open arms back to campus. When he walked into the library, he was showered with cheers and presented with the missing yearbooks.
Yearbook and Journalism advisor Jeremiah Dollins was notified by one of Wilson’s friends about the incident. Dollins said “They shared about his tragic situation and told me that what he was most upset about losing was his yearbooks. They were wanting to pay for the books, but there was no way we were going to take their money.”
Wilson was overjoyed by the gesture. “It just connects me with the past and with people that I knew and people that I liked I grew up with,” he said. “We spent a lot of time in Colton and driving around San Bernardino and going to Denny’s and all the different places in the area. So it just reminds me of all that, and I need that. It’s good.”
In high school, Wilson admitted he wasn’t very well known as he didn’t have the time to prioritize extracurriculars. He said, “I wasn’t one of the best known kids here, because I didn’t have a lot of time to mess around and play and go to parties and stuff. I worked.”
With his father running a construction company, Wilson was given a hard hat and put to work. “We were building things and cleaning up things and hauling jump off to the dump and stuff like that, but it gave me a good basis for life. You know, I wasn’t raised as a smart, rich kid. I didn’t have any of that and so it was good, you know.”
After graduating from UC Riverside, Wilson ended up with a career as an Engineering Geologist. In his profession he studied earthquakes and fault lines to support building safer and more stable buildings from the ground up.
Although Wilson still has to deal with the loss of a home and years of memories, thanks to Colton High’s publications program, he has a few of them back.
