LETTERS TO THE TIMES

Beatlemania Is Still Alive and Well

February 14, 2004

This is a belated "thank you" to The Times for giving me the thrill of a lifetime. Forty years ago, on Feb. 10, 1964, I found myself and four friends pictured on Page A3! Above the article about five of us being lost in the Angeles National Forest were three shots of Ringo Starr taking pictures in Central Park in New York City. Millions of teenagers had seen the Beatles' debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show," but I'd slept through the performance.

A small group of teenagers decided to take a hike to Strawberry Peak from a church camp retreat in the mountains that same weekend. The five of us were not so much lost as out of daylight to safely return back to camp. My parents were camp counselors, and when we did not return from that Saturday afternoon hike, they quickly sent for search-and-rescue teams. We sat perched atop Strawberry Peak for over eight hours that night trying to stay warm and hoping that we'd manage to get back home in time to see the Beatles on TV. The Montrose search and rescue team located us at 2:30 a.m. that Sunday and brought us back. Thanks to the timely rescue, we arrived at daybreak back in camp to find reporters from The Times. We learned that we'd made the national news service broadcasts that night. However, without sleep for some 36 hours, I could not manage to stay awake for the 8 p.m. showing that Sunday night of the Beatles.

Next morning, still half asleep, I wandered into the kitchen, and my dad just pointed me to the table. There were the open pages of The Times, and I found myself nearby one of the Beatles! Though my name was switched with the girl next to me, there we were, in print with a Beatle! Life was good again! I still have that 40-year-old yellowed page.

Nancy Higgins Jirash

Palmdale