Hartford Natives Perish In California Wildfires

10/11/17 – A couple with ties to Hartford has died in the northern California wildfires. The New York Times says 100-year-old Charles Rippey and his 98-year-old wife Sara died together as rapidly moving flames roared through their home in Napa, near San Francisco. Both went to the same elementary school in Hartford — and they graduated from U-W Madison and later raised five children. Seventy-year-old son Mike Rippey said his parents “couldn’t be without each other” — and they most likely would have wanted to die together if they had the choice. Charles and Sara Rippey celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary earlier this year.