Survivors remember Good Friday earthquake 62 years later

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Friday marked 62 years since a magnitude 9.2 earthquake, one of the largest-ever recorded, struck Alaska.

For many, old newspaper clippings capture the unimaginable history frozen in time within pages and pictures. Headlines bring readers back to 5:36 p.m. on March 27, 1964.

But for survivors, the moments are still raw and one they will not forget.

“It says, ‘breakfasters shaken awake by two jolts,’” Arlene Raney, a survivor of the 1964 Earthquake, said as she read one of her old newspaper clippings.

Raney, who is now 88 years old, was in her late 20s when the earthquake happened. She said she was in Mountain View in Anchorage, running Easter errands with her children in the car, when the earth started to shake. According to Raney, this was her first time experiencing an earthquake.

“I got my foot on the clutch, and we are still moving and I can still remember the wiggling from side-to-side-to-side. That was the scary part,” Raney said.

It’s a moment she still remembers clearly, as she had to navigate a roadway of obstacles home. Other survivors also told Alaska’s News Source they remember the moments around 5:38 p.m. clearly.

“The sound was deafening, the roar,” another survivor, Patricia Schmidt, said. “It’s hard to explain.”

Schmidt was nine years old when the earthquake struck. She said she was at the 4th Avenue movie theater watching The Sword in the Stone with her family.

“And the quake actually started when Arthur started to pull the sword out of the stone and it was just unbelievable,” Schmidt said. “I could literally see the seats in front of me pitching and rolling like four feet.”

Upon exiting the theater, Schmidt recalls seeing 4th avenue completely gone and building roofs on the ground.

“Everyone was in such shock. This was something nobody had ever experienced,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt said she remembered a woman stuck in her car that was being squished by a slab. Her father, she said, was one of the people who responded.

“Watching my dad with those group of men trying to lift that slab off of that car. And I mean, that is so vivid in my mind. I can remember the shirt he was wearing,” Schmidt said.

Also in downtown Anchorage, Raney said, when she returned home, she was fortunate to find little damage. She opened her house to others who needed shelter.

“There’s no electricity to cook anything in an oven, or make a little deal like that, but I think I made tuna fish sandwiches. And nobody complained,” Raney said.

Now 62 years later, stories like these keep survivors connected.

“You know the whole house was, turned upside down,” Schmidt said. “It was more like camping at home.”

“And when they share their stories, you can understand it. You know what they’re experiencing,” she said.

The clippings keep their stories alive.

“And there are becoming fewer and fewer of us left that are still alive that experienced it,” Schmidt said. “And soon it’ll just be all history. There’ll be nobody left to tell the story.”

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Raney.

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