Free Republic

The last known survivor of the devastating San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 died Monday. Bill Del Monte, who was 109 years old, passed away just after midnight at the San Rafael senior care facility where he lived, according to his family. He was 11 days shy of his 110th birthday. His niece, Janette Barroca of San Francisco, said he'd been doing "great for 109 years old." Del Monte was just three months old when the quake struck, forcing his family into the streets to escape in a horse-drawn buck board with fire burning on both sides, Barroca said....

San Francisco’s fire chief made a special visit to the North Bay on Friday to celebrate the birthday of one of the two known survivors of the 1906 earthquake. Bill Del Monte turned 108 years old this week. He was just three months old when the earthquake devastated San Francisco. He now lives in a retirement home in Greenbrae. That’s where San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White met him for lunch, catered by John’s Grill. Over some steaks and a glass of scotch, Del Monte recalled his mother’s memory of the moments after the 1906 quake, when he was just...