Cigars are the best !! One of the last survivors of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire has died, less than a month after celebrating his 106th birthday — and his retirement.
Herbert Hamrol was 3 years old when his mother carried him to safety from their crumbling apartment building at 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906.
"She carried me in her left arm and used her right hand to grab the stair rail," Hamrol told The Associated Press on the earthquake's 99th anniversary. "That's all I remember."
Last year he was the only survivor to attend the annual commemoration. In 2000, there were 16 known survivors, but it's not known how many, if any, are still living.
Last month, Hamrol, who died in a local hospital Wednesday of complications from pneumonia, finally called it quits as a grocery store stocker. He celebrated his 106th birthday with a steakhouse party.
What was his recipe for longevity? Well, it either was or was not "wild women and good liquor."
Here's what The Associated Press says in an article posted today on SFGate, the site for the San Francisco Chronicle:
The party was just Hamrol's style, said friends and co-workers. He smoked cigars into his 90s, and told whoever wanted to know that his secret to a long life was "wild women and good liquor," said Janine Barrett, a manager at Andronico's Market in San Francisco.