My Alma Mater

Tucked away in the hills above Santa Barbara, Westmont College thrives with a beautiful campus, neighboring many magnificent, stately mansions, many built during the 1920s. I was a student there for my freshman and junior years of college. I loved every minute I attended!!

So it was with real sadness, I heard about the fires and the destruction to parts of our lovely campus. Below are two pictures which are representative of the structure and surroundings of the campus before the fire.

A friend sent me this email today which describes the scene on campus.

"At Westmont College the air was dense with smoke and the scent of burning pine. Flames chewed through a eucalyptus grove on the 135 acre campus and destroyed several buildings housing the physics and psychology departments, a dormitory and at least one faculty home, college spokesman, Scott Craig said. "I saw flames about 100 feet high in the air shooting up with the wind just howling," he told AP Radio. "Now when the wind howls, and you've got palm trees and eucalyptus trees that are literally exploding with their hot oil, you've got these big, red-hot embers that are flying through the sky and are catching anything on fire." Hundreds of students fled to the gym where they spent the night sleeping on the floor. Some stood in groups praying; others sobbed openly and comforted each other. Beth Lazor, 18, said she was in her dorm when the alarm went off. She said she only had time to grab her laptop, phone, a teddy bear and a debit card before fleeing the burning building. Her roommate, Catherine Wilson, said she didn't have time to get anything. "I came out, and the whole hill was glowing, " Wilson said. "There were embers falling down."

Although its been 58 years since my freshman year in college, many of my life's fondest memories originate in that little college which has grown and flourished over the years.