Last Updated on March 2, 2017 by CCAR Staff
A Rialto woman is donating her late husband’s treasured Stephen King books to a Riverside man who lost nearly everything when a plane crashed into his house this week.
While she doesn’t know him, Karen (Wolter) Proctor went to Ramona High School with Dave Swinfard and graduated one year later in 1975.
Swinfard, 61, lost a large collection of King novels when a twin-engine Cessna 310 hit his house and the house next door Monday, Feb. 27. He also lost his house, car, cats and most of what he owned, but managed to escape as fire and smoke filled his home.
After reading about his plight, Proctor said Thursday, March 2, that she wants to give Swinfard at least five to six Stephen King paperbacks and hardcovers that were prized by her late husband, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Court Services Investigative Technician Michael Proctor.
She initially teared up while talking about her husband’s books, which sit on a shelf intermingled with hers after he died in 2010.
“I have these books I will never read, and they’re collecting dust. I might as well give them to someone who can enjoy them,” said Proctor, 59.
Retired from the U.S. Air Force, Michael Proctor was a fan of King’s books and movies, including classics such as “Carrie” and “Misery.”
Shortly after noon Thursday, Swinfard was happy to learn about Proctor’s gift.
“That would be wonderful,” he smiled as he stood in front of his charred home. He had just returned from talking with his car insurance company.
Cars passed slowly to view the accident site.
“Sorry for your loss, dude,” a woman called as she drove by.
On Tuesday, someone stopped to give Swinfard a suitcase full of new socks, underwear, T-shirts, three pairs of shorts and a Target gift card.
Swinfard said a woman came up to him Wednesday, pressed money into his hand and said, “‘Here’s $40. Go have dinner.’“
GoFundMe accounts have been set up by relatives for Swinfard and his next-door neighbors, the Shecks, who weren’t home when the plane crashed but lost their house, two Labrador retrievers and a cat.
Riverside Councilman Mike Soubirous helped connect Karen Proctor and Swinfard. Soubirous said her gesture was one of those small “random acts of kindness” that might help Swinfard put his life back in order.
“A lot of those things are things you just can’t buy,” he said.
Karen Proctor grew up in Riverside’s Magnolia Center neighborhood a few miles from Swinfard. She decided to give him the books after remembering the devasting 2003 Old Fire in the San Bernardino Mountains that destroyed the homes of her Del Rosa United Methodist Church minister and church secretary.
Proctor, a San Bernardino County patients’ rights advocate, filled in for the church secretary “the day after everybody lost everything” and took calls from people all over the country asking what they could donate.
Proctor knew the minister wouldn’t want anything for himself. She remembered telling a caller from Pennsylvania that the minister lost all his books. The caller donated books, as well as videos and toys for his kids, and that meant a lot, Proctor said.
She added that she hopes her gift will inspire others to help the plane crash victims or others.
“Fires are horrific. Everything is gone in a moment,” she said.
