Couple Married for 6 Decades Loses Home to California Wildfire, but Finds Wedding Album Untouched
“That was our beginning, and now we’re experiencing a new beginning," said Phyllis Nordquist, who has been married to her husband, Al, since 1961
A California couple who has been married for more than six decades lost their home during one of the many wildfires that recently tore across the state — but their wedding album miraculously remained intact.
Al and Phyllis Nordquist were forced to flee their home in Camarillo in early November as the Mountain Fire quickly approached their property, according to NBC News.
Before it burned down in the blaze, the couple had lived in the same home for 53 years, raising three children there before becoming grandparents and great-grandparents. “Basically, it was our life,” Al, 89, told the outlet. “Our whole life is right here where we lived.”
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The Nordquists had no time to prepare when they were told to get out of their home, where they were doing their normal routines when the fire reached their area.
Neither Al nor Phyllis knew what to expect when they returned home, though Phyllis hoped some photographs had survived.
Indeed, some pictures went untouched. One bookshelf had gone unburned, and the couple’s wedding album from 1961 was among the items stored there, NBC News reported.
That album captured memories of what Al called “the best day of my life.”
And although so many of their other possessions were destroyed, Phyllis is holding onto the album as a symbol of renewal. As she told NBC News, “That was our beginning, and now we’re experiencing a new beginning.”
The Mountain Fire destroyed more than 200 other buildings, the outlet reported, while CalFire said the blaze is currently 98% contained, having burned nearly 20,000 acres of land.
