A CHILD TO REMEMBER

KATHY FISCUS

1945-1949

This is Kathy Fiscus, a darling little girl who lost her life way too early but in a way that probably more people in the United States knew of it than any other loss up to that time.  You will understand that by the time you read her story.

She, a three-year-old, her five year old cousin, and her 9 year old sister lived in San Marino, California, and on the day of August 8, 1949 the three of them were playing in a vacant lot near her home.  Suddenly the older two kids heard some faint screaming; Kathy was nowhere to be seen, but the kids ran toward the source of the screaming and discovered she had fallen through open hole - an abandoned well - in the ground, about 14 inches across and very deep, hidden by a clump of weeds and obviously long forgotten.  They ran home to alert Kathy's mother, who ran quickly to the hole and called Kathy's name.  She asked Kathy if she was ok, and her little daughter answered "Yes."  That was the only and last word ever heard from her.

The story of the her rescue operation, which lasted 3 days, is well documented in news and visual media and it is worth looking up and re-reading.  Television was in its infancy, and there is still a smallish group of people alive who sat glued to their new television set for three days, until her little body was finally brought to the surface.  She was pronounced dead on April 10, 1949, but it is felt she actually drowned in the water accumulated in that old well shortly after she spoke her last word to her mother - "Yes."

Everyone from family to rescue personnel to volunteer workers on large and small equipment, to movie studios who sent large floodlights were so hopeful of a good result, and as with them, we who watched this event on TV all ended with broken hearts.

There is no good thing that can be said to come from such a terrible loss, but there was one major law enacted across our nation - "Kathy Fiscus Laws" - that requires all abandoned wells to be capped and filled in.  

Although there are still a few of us who were alive during this time, it seems somehow improper to label little blond Kathy as an IMMORTAL NOBODY.  But my thinking is that once we leave this place, her short life and her name are simply apt to be forgotten.  So I gladly consider her a perfect candidate for an IMMORTAL NOBODY, and I would really encourage you to use the internet's wonderful resources to read and see the full story of Kathy Fiscus.