Seth S Gidley 1832-1916

Seth S. Gidley 1832-1916 I will never forget the rain that winter, And the landslide that still stains my grave. An evil cursed wind it was, Lacerating the drenched cliffs And descending gullies of Rubio Canyon, With wailing sheets of raining hell! My friends, as long as this life of ours, Continues with its temperate turning, You and I shall never see nor meet any striving soul, As brave and strong as my delirious, But loving daughter, Evaline Gidley Drew. I did indeed find solace in knowing she survived, That rainy horrible day up by Echo Mountain, February in ’09; no man indeed should have to sit, Aghast, with the mind-numbing memory Of one’s daughter being buried alive in her own home, Of one’s grandson, missing for the night, Being found the following morning, Buried and dead in the debris. And oh, the bravery of that soul, Of my Evaline saving her twin girls, When the rocks and mud began to rumble! Of my Evaline blindly running into that death house, When the killing landslide mercilessly hit, To save her husband and sons still, Only to be struck down in the descending wreckage, Barely alive, as it set fifty feet down! I cannot fathom such courage, my friends. I am still awestruck, here in my grave. Praise God they survived that day... Sans my grandson...Thayer. Me and Ruth lived seven more years after that, On shady Milton Street in quiet Whittier. We lived there through many a fine summer sunset, And many a fine Yuletide feast. We grew old in the faith of our Lord, And died, the both of us, in 1916. And here we lay by the walnut trees. But I will never forget that rainy winter, In Rubio Canyon by Echo Mountain, Back in ’09, near the old Pavilion there, When Evaline Gidley Drew, my delirious But loving daughter, Showed saintly auras that day, The like of which You and I have never seen!