Carolwood Pacific Historical Society Ward Kimball Tribute,

Carolwood Pacific Historical Society Ward Kimball Tribute
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Steve Waller

At this point, Michael turned to the crowd for their personal stories. Steve Waller was the first person to step up to the microphone. Steve first met and became friends with Ward through a toy train collector’s club in the mid-80’s. Steve became close to Ward during a visit to Ward’s house to discuss making a video of Ward’s collection. He was supposed to be there at 2 PM, but was characteristically a little late, arriving at 2:15 to find the front of Ward’s house filled with police cars and fire engines. Steve’s first thought was that someone had been hurt in an explosion while steaming up one of Ward’s engines. It turned out to be a tragedy of a different sort, as Steve found out a plane had crashed into Ward’s property, with the wing clipping the house. The FAA did not want anyone to leave while they gathered information and talked to witnesses for their investigation, so Steve was stuck.

It was during this visit that Steve learned that Ward was a master storyteller in addition to his other more-well-known talents. Ward had to recount the events of the day over-and-over; each time he told it, the story was clearer, more vivid and more understandable, but it was not distorted or falsified in any way. Even in simply recounting events to investigators, Ward couldn’t help but tell the story in the best manner possible.

Steve read a quote from Leonard Maltin: "To the end of his days, Ward Kimball had a pixyish spirit that was irresistible. He had the soul of an artist and an innate sense of humor that came out through his work, his hobbies and his outlook on life. And he was always fun to be around. Ward Kimball was truly one-of-a-kind."

Steve also read from a letter to the editor in Trains magazine. The writer recounted a presentation Ward had given to a meeting of the Pacific Railroad Society. It was a combined business meeting and movie show, and Ward was presenting the business portion of the meeting. At the end of his presentation he said, "Well, that’s it," smiled a puckish little grin and flew from the stage. The meeting was being held in the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium, which happened to be hosting a production of Peter Pan at that time…


Roger Morgan

After Steve concluded his remembrances, Roger Morgan stepped up to the microphone to recount a sad story about one of Ward’s missed opportunities. Roger met Ward one time and struggled with what to talk to him about. He quickly realized that they shared a love of railroading, so Roger asked Ward if he had ever been on the Mount Lowe Railroad, which used to run through the San Gabriel Mountains from Pasadena to Mount Wilson. Ward said that he and Betty had planned to go up one weekend, but Mother Nature had other ideas. The weekend they were going to go ended up being during the Great Flood of 1938, which wiped out the Mount Lowe Railroad. Ward and Betty never had a chance to ride it. Roger ended with the comment that, of all people, Ward would have probably loved that trip the most.