Anna Gatto Smith; 1906 quake survivor
Hyfler/Rosner
APRIL 30, 2005, SATURDAY, FINAL EDITION
Anna Gatto Smith, a longtime billing clerk at the old I.
Magnin department store in San Francisco and one of the
oldest survivors of the 1906 earthquake, has died at the age
of 105.
She died Thursday in a Monterey convalescent home after a
brief illness.
A native of San Francisco, she was a girl when the earth
began shaking in her North Beach flat and her father plucked
her to safety. The two of them rode a fishing boat to
Tiburon and took refuge for a few days at historic Old St.
Hilary's Church overlooking the bay, where they watched the
fire consume much of San Francisco.
She trained to be an opera singer and had parts in several
local productions. She enjoyed taking daily walks throughout
San Francisco and cooking Italian dishes. At the age of 95,
she took up pastel drawing and produced colorful landscapes.
She is survived by her son, Stanley Smith of Tiburon, and by
her daughter, Shirley Springer of Mountain View. Her husband
of 62 years, Delbert, died in 1990.
A private memorial service will be held Monday in Seaside
(Monterey County).