Victoria Taft was nice, generous, social, independent, honest, trustworthy, caring, facetious, dependable, sarcastic, modest, smart, stubborn, and loyal. She cared about other people more than herself. She always thought the world was better than it was. She was liked by whoever knew her. She mostly went by Vicki. We had lived together in Paradise for 10 years. She loved the town, had volunteered in it and did not want to leave it. I wish we had.

All of my culture comes from her, not necessarily from my surroundings or education. I loved listening to her unique stories when I was a child about the film industry and her experiences. I love her and will miss her forever.

Victoria, my mom, was 66 and born November 11, 1951 in Pennsylvania. Her birthday was just 3 days after the fire. She grew up in Los Angeles. She was a single mom who mostly stayed home after I was born in 1993. We then lived in Arizona for 12 years and moved to Paradise in 2008.

Because we didn't have mandatory orders from authority or any warnings to leave, my mother didn't know it would be as bad as it was and didn't evacuate with me. I feel pain, guilt, shame loss, death, and anger about what happened. I wish I had stayed longer and that the emergency response was better. The fire was deadly,