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Paradise High School All-Class Reunion

9/28/2019

Lois Kidder

Paradise High School, one of the few survivers of the Camp Fire.

“Are you going to the Reunion?” she in its ubiquitous red dirt, where cars imploded, and propane tanks
asked. Good question…and, without burst into shrapnel and flames. By spring, we saw rebirth, trees sprout-
much thought, my answer was “yes.” ing again, flowers blooming, lawns green. And with the tender shoots
of green blades and fresh branches comes hope that we will survive,
Yes, because less than a year ago, the town that our town will survive.
we grew up in was leveled by the Camp Fire.
Yes, because it’s been a tough year digging And gather we did. There were stories to be told, met with kind-
out of the ashes to find even a small treasure. ness, understanding, hugs. We listened as our friends told how they
Yes, because the consensus is to rebuild. Yes, escaped the fire, but their homes did not. Stories of heroism with
because there are new businesses opening fire trucks rescuing people from stalled cars and neighbors helping
their doors again. Yes! Because our friends neighbors fight the fire for 17 hours as the firestorm raged through
and family need moral support and an infu- this beautiful, forested little town. And pets, recovered miles away in
sion from those who care. another town’s rescue shelter.

FIRE! November 8, 2018 – Paradise, dark There is much to be said for connecting with classmates who reach
and windy, quiet beauty, high in the Si- back 50 or 60 years and a rapport found nowhere else but in the heart
erra, an acre burned every second, 100,000 of someone you’ve known for decades. They are not just friends; they
acres, 26,000 population, like Armageddon, are brothers and sisters, not by birth or blood, but through a warm
a woman in labor with no way to safety, familial network. There is a comradery uniquely tender and sweet.
hospital evacuated, first responders, fire We knew them when, we know their story and the coming of age
raged for hours, four roads clogged exiting tales when the town of Paradise hit the cover of Life magazine with a
Paradise, a thousand structures burned out, national exposé about Mrs. Franklin’s Social Studies and Political Sci-
85 dead, hot enough to melt steel and rock. ence classes. A red Volkswagen mysteriously appearing on the school
Devastation everywhere. roof--nobody is saying how that happened. Reminiscences about
Donnan Coutelenc’s spring concerts with a program of well-rehearsed
November of 2018: Paradise became a DMZ of songs from Cole Porter and the Gershwins, or Coach Wraith’s football
smoldering remains and ash with deep craters teams, or Mrs. Newman’s French and Latin classes. Mrs. Lillibridge’s
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