How an iron gate empowered an Altadena family to persevere after the Eaton Fire

By Pat Harvey

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    ALTADENA, California (KCAL/KCBS) — After losing nearly everything, a wrought iron gate amid the rubble of their Altadena home granted a grieving couple the strength to keep going.

On Jan. 7, Susan and Darrell Carr had little time to pack up a lifetime of memories. They said that minutes felt like seconds as the Eaton Fire closed in on their family home.

“We had like 30 minutes,” Susan said. “But, I was frozen.”

Like many of the roughly 100,000 people living near Eaton Canyon, the Carrs were forced to make tough choices in the chaotic moments before fleeing from the flames.

“You think you’re coming back,” Susan said.

Before evacuating, they managed to gather some of their son’s artwork but left many of their family heirlooms behind.

“I was a family archivist,” Susan said. “I had everything from my siblings and parents.”

Soon, the flames devoured the home where they raised their only son, burning it and nearly everything inside to the ground.

“The house that Justin built,” Susan said. “He wanted to be an architect. So, the colors from our house he picked. Every piece of our house was Justin.

The Carr family suffered a heartbreaking tragedy when their 16-year-old son, Justin, died while swimming more than a decade ago. The talented artist, promising actor and poet had an undiagnosed heart condition called cardiomyopathy, a weakening of the heart muscle that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest.

The loss motivated the Carrs to launch the Justin Carr Wants World Peace Foundation to teach others about the dangers of heart disease. It provides scholarships and most importantly keeps their teenage son’s memory alive.

“We have our life,” Susan said. “We save lives but that life of Justin was all that we had left in that house.”

Without their home, the Carrs felt like they’d lost Justin twice.

“Extremely devasting to see my home,” Darrell said. “I like to think I’m this real tough guy, but I cried like a baby. But then, I looked over and saw the gate still standing. I said ‘All right.’ It just gave me a spark.”

Among the few things left standing in the rubble was the wrought iron gate the Carrs erected to commemorate Justin’s life.

“When I came home and saw that gate, it just did something to me,” Darrell said. “I’ve been knocked down before, but it’s hard to keep me down. Justin helped me get up on this one.”

On the gate was a message of hope, “Justin Carr Wants World Peace,” a slogan the family came up with when they found their 4-year-old son praying for world peace.

The gate and other memories spared from the fire gave the Carrs the strength they needed to continue on the long road of rebuilding.

“I’ve been knocked down many times,” Darrell said. “You can’t keep me down. Get back up — taught that to Justin … You know what your purpose is in life. Get back up and start marching again.”

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