Wife Clings to Hope That Her Husband Survived Capsizing

It wasn’t until her granddaughter brought in the Saturday morning paper and screamed, “Grandpa’s name is right here,” that Ruth Baldwin fell apart.

While she knew her husband, Ken, was aboard the fishing boat that had tragically capsized off Baja California under the force of a 20-foot wave Thursday, Baldwin could not imagine that the 64-year-old World War II paratrooper had not somehow survived.

“I don’t care if he said he saw him go down,” she said, referring to survivor Jim Sims’ account that the eldest member of the fishing party “was the first to go,” disappearing after an hour of frantic swimming in the ocean’s frigid waters. “I haven’t given up hope.”

Of the 12 people on board the 57-foot Fish-n-Fool boat, only Sims, 29, and crew member Kathy Compton, 38, survived--the latter staying afloat on in life raft until Coast Guard aircraft spotted her.

With Fierce Hope

Huddled with her family around the couple’s kitchen table in Huntington Beach on Saturday, Ruth Baldwin replayed the details of the last 24 hours over and over in her mind with a fierce hope that the ending might somehow come out differently.

“I kissed Ken goodby on Tuesday afternoon as he left to drive down to San Diego for the fishing trip,” she recalled, explaining that her husband, a senior street inspector for the city’s public works department, went on three- to five-day trips every year. “He was supposed to be home today.”

The next thing she remembered was hearing a radio report on Friday morning.

“I was in the bathroom and heard the news about the boat--it was 10 before 7 a.m,” Baldwin recalled. “My daughter heard the same report and called me. I couldn’t find my glasses.

“We all just sat here and made phone calls whenever we could think of somebody,” said the Baldwins’ daughter, Jennece Distler, describing the hours that followed as they waited for definitive word from the Coast Guard.

As she nervously smoked one cigarette after another, Baldwin described the man she married 41 years ago as a strong, fearless person who loved to fish, hunt and spend time with his family. The two had gone on many fishing trips together and had taught hunting safety for the state Department of Fish and Game.

“Every chance he could, he would go fishing,” said Baldwin, her right hand rhythmically turning over a paper napkin as she spoke.

“Dad fished the Atlantic, the Pacific and every stream and brook in Pennsylvania and New Jersey,” Distler said, the memory bringing a temporary smile to everyone’s face. “If he could have arranged his death,” Distler said, “he may have arranged it to happen this way (while fishing), but I don’t think he’d want all the family to go through all the wondering of ‘Do we give up? Do we hang on?’ ”