When he settled in west Altadena, Carl Dyson Sr. was determined.

Determined to build a home. Determine to make the “perfect place” that would sustain generations of his family beyond him.

It was the late 1970s. And Altadena represented a new horizon — an American town where the elder Dyson and his family could build a future.

Little could he have foreseen back then the catastrophe that would come a handful of years since his passing amid the Covid-19 pandemic years:

That dark morning, 3 a.m.-ish Jan. 8, 2025, when the next generation of his family watched the Eaton fire burn closer and closer to their Grandeur Avenue property.

No official evacuation alert came. Only instinct, and a belated recognition from family and friends that there was no way to stay. It was time to go. They had t

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