Almost 90 year old grandmother of four (Altadena, California). It garnered millions of views on social media after her granddaughter shared her words of wisdom after losing everything in the wake of the devastating California wildfires.
For Ruth Judkins, who turns 90 next month, the devastation of the Southern California wildfires was a time to reset and simplify her life.
“Know what's important in your life, and I hope you have the strength, energy and faith to keep going and rebuild your life,” Judkins told Fox News Digital. “You may want to change it up. You may want to simplify at whatever age you are.”
“But the important thing is to know what is important and to live by what you believe in,” she said.
Her simple words of wisdom struck a chord on social media, where she was from Video of granddaughter on Instagram It achieved more than 3 million views and thousands of comments.
New wildfires are burning in California as the flames continue to spread across Los Angeles
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Judkins' longtime home in Altadena was one of several thousand homes destroyed by a horrific wildfire.
“The street I live on has 12 single-family homes,” she said. “Six of them remain. Six of them burned down.”
The horror occurred after Judkins spent a typical day spending time with her daughter and granddaughter and catching up on reading in her home, where she lives alone.
“I heard all the noise. I would say the winds were 70 to 80 miles per hour at that point,” she said. “You could hear it even though I had double glazed windows, it was horrific,” she said. “Finally I went out and looked, and I could see that the fire was to my east.”
Long contracts Residing in Southern California They've experienced other devastating wildfires, noting that they usually start in the mountains rather than the canyons.
“But this started at our latitude,” she said. “So, it was a new ball game.” “This never happened. It was directly to the east and I think the wind was moving fast because of the wind,” he added.
Ruth Judkins' home in Altadena, California, after the Eaton fires. Judkins has lived there for 48 years and hopes to rebuild. (GoFundMe)
Moments after scanning Rapidly growing fireJudkins received an alert that it was time to evacuate.”
“I got a really loud alert on my phone saying, 'Get out,'” she said. “I took what I thought was necessary, packed my car and left.”
“I was very confident that the fire would be resolved,” she said. “I was going to take one wall of irreplaceable photos. That's all I was going to take. Maybe my recipe box, too.”
Ruth Judkins, who turns 90 next month, said she is working to simplify her holdings after losing everything after the Eaton fires swept through the Altadena, California, area. (Fox News Digital)
Judkins shared that most belongings in life are replaceable, saying that at her age, “I don't need things.”
“Most things are replaceable, you know, and a lot of things when you've been in your house for 48 years, like I did, you don't really need them,” she said.
The nearly 90-year-old said she grew up in the 1950s and learned that while “you need money to live, money doesn't make you happy.”
“I used to have three sets of plates, but I only need one set of 12 plates for my family and one set of four plates for each day,” she said. “That's enough. Same with clothes.”
A satellite image shows smoke covering homes after devastating wildfires in Altadena, California on January 8, 2025. (Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters)
Moving forward, Judkins is looking toward the future where she hopes to rebuild her home, commenting that she hopes to build it sustainably.
“I know it will take some time to rebuild the house, but I am very keen to do it,” she said. “At my age, I don’t have many years left in this house.” “I just saved for five years to get by Fully electric kitchen And everything was perfect. I didn't even mind washing the dishes because there was a place for everything! It was the best kitchen!”
“And I want to rebuild the house. Same footprint. I don't want anything different except I want a sustainable house with electric heat and an electric water heater.”
A house burns as strong winds fuel devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area, forcing people to evacuate, at the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California, US on January 8, 2025. (Reuters/David Swanson)
Her daughter, Carolina, launched a fundraising effort for Judkins after her mother lost everything in the fire.
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“When the fire broke out, my grandmother only had a few minutes to evacuate and was only able to grab her dog, leaving everything else behind,” Carolyn wrote in the GoFundMe post. “She also lost her rental properties, which were her main source of income when she was 89. This left her without a safety net.”
