I’d like you to meet my friend and photo coaching colleague Patti LaMarr.
Patti lost her home during the historic blaze that swept through Altadena during the evening of January 7 into the late morning of January 8.
But her family photos that you see here and other precious memories survived because they’re digitized, safely stored, and easily accessible.
Scroll to the end of this post to contact her and learn how to keep your most meaningful memories safe for many decades to come.
Patti is a friend and colleague who lived just west of the Altadena Library on Mariposa since 1989. Her home burned within several hours after the blaze started a few miles away in Eaton Canyon.
Patti suffered tremendous loss and I invited her to share her story.
The historic Eaton Fire
When the fire started in Altadena, I wasn’t concerned because we’d had fires before. A friend called me and said she had received an evacuation alert.
I stayed alert, but it wasn’t until 1 a.m. when I looked out the front door. The fire seemed low, so I decided to evacuate. I never thought my house would burn so I only packed a few items. I had already been planning a brief trip and I threw extra things in my little suitcase and packed up my laptop.
But I didn’t pack anything of importance.
I drove to an evacuation center at the Pasadena Convention Center. The Red Cross did a good job and I met nice and interesting people.
Hearing news and taking action
After the sun rose, we were waiting to hear any news and when it finally came, it wasn’t good. Many homes had burned but I still didn’t know about mine. That afternoon, I moved to a friend’s house.
It was the next day when I learned about my home. A neighbor who’s a Highway Patrolman was emotional when he gave me the sad news that both his and my home were lost in the fire.
As the weekend approached, he sent me a photo of my home’s remains. It was surreal. A yard statue of Pan survived.
I contacted my insurance company and the utilities. The adjusters were understanding and I felt like they were on my side.
My memories stored safely
What I didn’t have to mourn was the loss of photos, videos, and other memories. My most important ones are digitized and safely stored in cloud storage that I own.
It’s cloud storage you can own, too.
Several years ago, I learned about FOREVER® and saw the benefits of digitizing memories like printed photos and videos and storing them safely and permanently.
Preserving memories has been a passion of mine. My career was spent with the Pacific Bell (Pac Bell) phone company, but I’ve been a volunteer archivist with the Pasadena Playhouse and assist in digitizing important photos that show the history of the storied theater.
I believe in FOREVER®’s mission to store files for a lifetime, plus 100 years. It’s a promise that’s guaranteed and I’ll be glad to share how they stand behind that guarantee. My files are triple backed up and secure.
I have peace of mind knowing I own my FOREVER® account and my files are safe.
The debris was removed in April. My home is gone but I still have many photos and memories that I can share.
How I can help you
Does the thought of putting your photos, videos, slide shows and documents seem overwhelming?
I’ll show you that you don’t have to save all your photos, video tapes, and other memories.
Here’s what I do.
For a quick start,treat your photo collection like you’re sorting a deck of cards. You have four suits: hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades.
Let’s put each suit in its own pile or section:
- Hearts: people, vacations & events with people, & memorable pets
- Diamonds: buildings your home, schools & cars
- Spades: landscapes, flora & fauna
- Clubs: this is for the brave at heart–the photos you’re going to discard or toss.
Once you have those piles in order, go through each photo and select the important photos you want to digitize.
Alert: write on the back of the photo (or attach a post-It note) the first and last names of the people in the photos.
Use the QR code as one way to get in touch with me.
Now you don’t have to worry about favorite memories getting damaged or lost.
When you have those sorted in their own places, you’ll see that you don’t have to save every photo of every person to tell someone’s life story.
You might only need from several photos to a dozen to illustrate someone’s life. In fact, you can write a book using FOREVER®.
Here’s why.
Your FOREVER® album has margins giving you space to name a photo, video and write the date the photo was taken and the date it was uploaded to your account.
There’s also room to describe a file. Many users write brief notes, but you could write descriptions that are like chapters in books.
I make my own artwork, too, and upload that.
With FOREVER®, you’re saving your files for descendants many generations into the future.
Do you have photos of family who served in the military?
I’m concerned about the stories of our military veterans going over what I call a digital cliff and being lost and forgotten.
My father served in World War Two and I’m saving his photos in an on-going project that I call Project Kilroy, Honoring Our Heroes: Sharing Our Stories.
If you’re interested, email me below and I’ll send a questionnaire with the following information:
- Name
- Branch of Service
- Hometown
My dad was stationed in Papua New Guinea. I remember many of his stories and they’re worth passing along.
My resolve and release
During the days after the fire, I visited with others as we processed the loss.
I’d ask, “Do you remember Mr. T from the TV show the A Team? I saw him interviewed on a TV talk show and at one time he was a bodyguard. I’ll never forget his quote, ‘Don’t cry over anything that can’t cry over you.’”
It was how I began justifying the loss of things that had value, everyday comfort, and the sentimental items.
After about three weeks, I found an apartment. It was a difficult transition, but it has a lovely kitchen and I love to cook. I’ve made it feel more like a home by adding furniture I liked and of course cooking items.
Friends and family have been supportive and I’m trying to justify the loss with humor and practicality.
Some of the things I lost had ties to people like a spoon from my dad and a cutting board from my aunt.
But, hey, I no longer have to declutter. That’s a plus.
I was needing a new roof. Not any longer.
I’m mentally releasing my things and hope to move on. A sense of humor helps.
I feel blessed and have the love, support, and prayers of my family, friends, the Pasadena Village community network, and friends at the Pasadena Playhouse.
Prepare and don’t worry
It’s worth digitizing your memories so they last and you don’t have to worry about losing them.
It’s worth uploading and saving your newest memories from your smartphone or other digital device, too, and store those in a safe location as part of your family’s story.
My advice is to prepare ahead, keep close relationships, and if disaster does strike, you’ll be able to right-size yourself again like I’m doing.
Are you concerned about saving your memories?
Many people have been helping me since the fire in January and now I’d like to help you preserve your memories so you and others can enjoy them now and into the future.
Let me know what help you need:
- Decluttering and digitizing your many older files
- Best ways to use FOREVER®
- Ways I can write my family’s story
You can’t prevent disasters from happening, but you can take action to preserve your memories that are important and enjoy peace of mind knowing they’re safe.