Dalyce Curry was eager to get back home in Altadena, Calif. after spending 15 hours at a hospital when the devastation struck.
Shortly after midnight on January 8, Curry, who is 95 years old, and her granddaughter, Dalyce Kelley, made their way to Curry’s charming cottage on Krenz Street.
As they drove into Altadena, they both noticed flames and smoke about four miles east of Curry’s house.
The granddaughter said she wasn’t alarmed at the time because the smoke looked too distant to reach her grandmother’s neighborhood.
Curry, lovingly known to everyone as ‘Momma D’, was tired from being at the hospital and just wanted to sleep in her own bed, her granddaughter said.
‘She gave me a big wet kiss and she said I love you,’ Kelley told DailyMail.com.
‘I responded, “I love you too,” and ensured that she was safely indoors. Both of us were exhausted from the day spent at the hospital. I didn’t sense any imminent threat because there wasn’t an evacuation order in place at that time.
‘At times, her kisses were a bit too wet, requiring a slight wipe. That was just her way—affectionate. We exchanged kisses, bid farewell, and I drove back to my own home. Those were the final words we shared.’
Kelley, who lives about 25 miles away in Claremont, said she woke up hours later to horrifying news that the Eaton Fire had already consumed several blocks of Altadena.
Dalyce Kelley (left) said her grandmother Dalyce ‘Mama D’ Curry’s (right) remains were found inside what was once her cottage in Altadena, Calif. after the Eaton Fire mercilessly destroyed entire neighborhoods
Dalyce Curry’s family frantically searched for her whereabouts and hoped she had been rescued by someone
The deadly Eaton Fire in Altadena has burned more than 14,000 acres as of Tuesday afternoon at onlt 35% containment
She called the sheriff’s and fire departments and asked someone to check on her grandmother, but the system was just too overwhelmed with calls.
That’s when she decided to jump in her car and frantically drove 25 miles back to her grandmother’s house.
‘I found out later that people in the area got an evacuation notice at 3:30 am that [Wednesday] morning, but Momma D was not a cell phone type of girl. When you’re elderly, it’s hard for them or they just don’t like to use their cell phones.’
By the time she arrived in Altadena at about 5:30 a.m. and cops had already placed barriers around the neighborhoods.
Ash and smoke blanketed that skies that she couldn’t even see the sun, Kelley said.
‘It was all black and I just panicked because I felt like I was in hell,’ she said. ‘A man passed me by and yelled that his whole house had burned down.
‘Another lady drove by and she screamed, “The whole city is gone!” And I’m like, “Oh, my God! What is happening?”‘
Kelley said an officer saw her and took down her grandmother’s information, but suggested she drive to the Pasadena Civic Center just a few miles away where some residents had been evacuated.
Dalyce Kelley said she could barely recognize the piles of rubble and ash that was left of her grandmother’s Altadena cottage
‘I was on my way to Pasadena when he called me back,’ Kelley recounted. ‘He said, “Ma’am, I hate to tell you, but your grandmother’s house is totally gone.”
‘I still went to the center and then the Arcadia Recreation Center because maybe someone had taken her out of the house and took here somewhere. I was clinging onto hope that someone had her.’
Two days later, Kelley and her family still did not receive any confirmation from law enforcement or LA County Medical Examiner’s Office. She was told someone would get to her grandmother’s house and check over the weekend.
Kelly instead decided to go back to Altadena on Friday to look for her grandmother’s remains.
‘I went down there to see if I can look for her body myself but I was stopped by the National Guard,’ she said. ‘They told me there was nothing they could do but one of them took pity on me and said she would guide me there but we had to go on foot.’
A resident who also decided to stay inside the neighborhood saw Kelley and the soldier and gave them a ride through the destroyed Altadena neighborhoods.
‘The devastation was unbelievable,’ she said. ‘Power lines were down everywhere. When we go to the house, it was a nightmare.’
Mama D was a beloved member of the Altadena community and lived at her home for over 20 years
A Ring camera captured horrifying video footage of the possible origin of the quick-moving Eaton Fire in Altadena, Calif.
The fire quickly traveled down the hill and ravaged several blocks of residential neighborhoods in Altadena
Kelley said when she got to the cottage, she could barely make out the area where her grandmother’s favorite chair was normally placed.
‘She loved that chair and would fall asleep on it all the time, so I thought she would be there but I saw no remains,’ Kelley said. ‘The smell of gas was just so overwhelming that the National Guard told me we had to go.’
Two days later, Kelley received a call from the county Medical Examiner officials.
‘It was 5 p.m. Sunday when I saw the coroner’s number and my heart dropped,’ she said. ‘They said, “Unfortunately, we did find remains at your grandmother’s home.”‘
Officials said the only remains found in the tiny cottage was half a skull with eye glass frames.
‘That means she was probably asleep and she was just so tired she never even took her eyeglasses off,’ Kelley said in tears.
Kelley told DailyMail.com that her 95-year old grandmother had some heart complications a few months before. However, during Curry’s last trip to the hospital the doctor ordered a CT scan.
After some tests, the doctor said her scans and her vitals were normal for a 95-year old so Curry was discharged from the hospital at about 11:30 p.m. on January 7.
By that time, a fire was already progressing near some power lines above the Eaton Canyon trail in Altadena. Within 30 minutes and just as the pair arrived at Curry’s cottage, the canyon was already on fire.
Kelley said she is completely heartbroken and blames herself for taking her mother back to Altadena.
The distraught granddaughter said she is struggling with the guilt of leaving her beloved Momma D that night, but she had to go back to her home to help her ailing sister, who has been diagnosed with cancer.
Entire rows of homes and power poles were destroyed by the Eaton Fire
‘In her 95 years of life, Momma D never had a CT scan but the day before the fires, they ordered one,’ Kelley told DailyMail.com. ‘I don’t know why this happened but ironically, that’s the only thing we have left to help identify her remains because only a part of a skull was found.
‘I thought to myself, “Was this meant to be, God? Why did this happen? Why didn’t we just stay at the hospital?” There are so many questions and what ifs. She wanted to leave the hospital that night and go where she would be happy, which was at her own house.’
Kelley said block after block of homes near her grandmother’s cottage were destroyed by the Eaton Fire. She said the neighbors, who all looked out for her 95-year old grandmother, are also distraught over her death and their own loss.
She recently found out that one of her grandmother’s neighbors frantically banged on her door as the flames inched closer toward their homes. The 95-year-old, however, did not answer, so the neighbor took off, Kelley said.
Kelley said city and county officials have to come up with a better plan to warn residents of wildfires, especially seniors who probably did not hear the evacuation warnings that was sent to cell phones.
‘Altadena was a great place and it breaks my heart to see such devastation for miles and miles,’ Kelley said. ‘I’ve never seen this type of destruction in the U.S., except during Hurricane Katrina.
‘You never think something like this could ever happen to you. We thought there would be no way that fire could come down from the mountains and wipe out the whole city.’
She said at the tender age of 95, her grandmother was ‘still sharp’ and would often talk about her days as an actress in Hollywood.
Curry had small roles in several Hollywood movies that became pop culture classics like The Blues Brothers and The Ten Commandments.
Kelley said her grandmother would tell the family stories of working in Hollywood and how she got her start in movies. Curry’s godmother, Madame Sul-Te-Wan – known as was the first Black actress to sign a movie contract in Hollywood – helped her get into the business.
While she had parts in movies such as Lady Sings the Blues, which starred Diana Ross, Curry decided abruptly to leave the movie industry shortly after 1980.
Dalyce Curry had roles in cult classic movies like the Blues Brothers and The Ten Commandments. She quit Hollywood and focused on her career as a nurse for the elderly until she retired
‘There was a casting couch situation when she interviewed with a major producer and director when he made some disrespectful advances towards her,’ Kelley said. ‘He told her to lift up her skirt but she was a woman with a certain kind of integrity and she quickly put him in his place.’
Kelley said her grandmother never divulged the name of the producer.
‘He threatened her and said she would never work in this town again. After that, the calls from Hollywood stopped.’
Curry would appear in community theater from time to time, but she devoted the rest of her life to her career as a home healthcare nurse for the elderly until she retired.
Curry lived in her Altadena cottage for over 20 years and loved her independence. Kelley said her family are struggling with moving on without their matriarch and are trying to raise money for her memorial and funeral.
‘She loved her cheeseburgers, telling stories and going to all her local shops and stores in Altadena. It’s a special place full of eclectic people and hardworking Black and Latino families.
‘Everyone who met her loved her. I wouldn’t wish this pain on my worst enemy. Momma D would always say, “Well, darling. Nothing is as bad as it seems, even at its worst.” I’m trying to remember those words because I miss her so much.’
