Kevin Scott Allison, BHS 1986

Kevin Scott Allison, BHS 1986

Burbank Leader, February 1986

Hurt Burbank youth remains in ‘critical’ condition

Kevin Allison, a Burbank youth who was reportedly on a ski trip when he apparently fell into a drainage ditch and was knocked unconscious during a snowstorm , remained in critical condition late Friday afternoon in a northern California hospital, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

“his core temperature is back to normal (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit),” said Barbara Parcher, an administer at the Bishop Northern Inyo Hospital, some 250 miles northeast of Burbank, where Allison, 17, has been hospitalize since Monday. Allison’s condition still was listed as “critical,” and he remained in the intensive care unit at the Bishop hospital on Friday. And, although the family reportedly requested no detailed medical information be released, the hospital spokeswoman said Allison’s “vital signs are stable.” “The family is optimistic,” she added.

Joanne Knoche, director of nursing at Centinela Mammoth Hospital, the first medical facility Allison was taken to after the accident early Monday, said that Allison’s body temperature was 87 degrees F when he was first reached by paramedics. 

The Burbank High School senior was transferred later, Monday about 50 miles to the Bishop hospital after his body core temperature had warmed to 95 degrees F, said the Mammoth medical facility spokeswoman. Allison’s rescue was reportedly hampered for hours, as rescuers had to get around an avalanche that had blocked state highway 158, the principal rescue route, according to Mono County Assistant Sheriff, Allan Tronaas.

Details surrounding the reasons for the youth’s trek into the snow and rain, and the amount of time he was exposed to the cold and damp was not immediately specified by the Mono County Sheriff’s Department according to Tronaas. At 5 a.m., Monday, Allison was found “face down, wet and unconscious in an drainage ditch by the side of the road,” he said.

Hospital spokesman Knoche said that Allison apparently had been walking on the side of the street Sunday night near June Lake in conditions of “poor visibility” when he apparently fell into the drainage ditch. A search party was formed and located the youth; paramedics started to treat the youth at 6 a.m., and at it took “until 9: 15 a.m. to get him out of the area.” The assistant sheriff said. Paramedics had to use a “Snow Cat” to climb the mounds of snow to transport Allison around 500ft of the blocked roadway, she said.

A Burbank physician, Dr. Philip Schwarzman, when consulted about the effects of hypothermia noted that to his best knowledge, “the lowest recorded recovery” from a lowered body core temperature was from a victim where temperature had fallen to 63 degrees F.

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Burbank Leader, February 26, 1986

Burbank youth is moved to Pasadena hospital

  Kevin Allison, the Burbank youth injured near Mammoth Mountain on Feb. 17 was transported to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena Monday morning, hospital officials said. However, he still remains in critical condition, according to spokeswoman, Diana Ortiz, of the public affairs department of the Pasadena hospital. She said Allison ‘has not yet regained consciousness.”  (Article cont. but repeat of first article above).

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Burbank Leader, Wednesday, March 5, 1986

He ‘will always live in our hearts’ Memorial service is set Thursday for Kevin Allison

Friday’s death of Burbank High School senior Kevin Allison, who was characterized by many early this week as a “charismatic energetic,” has left a void in his family, his school and community where he worked. Allison, 17, lost his 12-day battle for life following an accident in a northern California skiing community. A memorial service is set at Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills on Thursday at 3 p.m. at Church of the Hills.

In the wake of the community tragedy, the Kevin Allison Memorial Scholarship Fund has been established at Alison’s school for students in one of Allison’s favorite subjects - the computer science field – according to Kevin’s father, Jim Allison, 49. Burbank High School is accepting donations to the scholarship in lieu of flowers, Jim Allison told the Burbank Leader Tuesday. On Thursday, the flag at Burbank High School is scheduled to be-at half-staff in memorial of Allison, high school officials said. 

The youth suffered from hypothermia – paramedics found the youth unconscious Alison face down in the snow early in the morning of Monday, Feb. 17 – his body temperature was reportedly 87 degrees Fahrenheit. He died at Pasadena’s Huntington Memorial Hospital five days after being transferred from Bishop Northern Inyo Hospital. The youth remained in critical condition throughout his struggle.

“He was a good guy, a wonderful young man,” said the youth’s mother, Karen Allison, on Tuesday.  “Kevin was a loving, caring person that loved every person young and old,” she said. “He lived every day to the fullest, he loved dancing and skiing,” the 45-year-old mother said. She added that the memorial plan to have the flag at half-staff at the high school “was very touching, it meant so much to us.”  “It made us feel so good,” she added.

Kevin’s father said he wanted to “express thanks to all our friends, oh boy, they have helped.” He said that his sons ashes “would be scattered in the mountains in the area he was most fond of, his playground. When the family’s 12-day vigil ended in heartbreak, people throughout the community expressed their sorrow at the loss of Kevin Allison. 

At the high school, Allison was the teaching assistant for Associated Student Body advisor, Larry Auzene, Jr. Auzene said Allison was “a very, very positive young man with a ton of energy. I loved him as a friend. Allison had many ideas for the ASB advisor, and Auzene commented that Allison, when given an assignment, would say, “Sure, don’t worry, I’ll get on it.” “Kevin was an all-around kid, full of life, a very fine person….we love him and will greatly miss him – he will always be in our hearts,” Auzene said. Allison’s principal at Burbank High School, William Bertrand, said he was “sadden at the loss of someone special to us,” and that he “sorry to hear of his passing.”

The senior accentuated his studies with work experience about working 20 hours a week at Computers Contractors, Inc. “imputing resume information into a personal computer,” according to his immediate supervisor, Steve Pyda, an account representative at the Burbank firm. He had reportedly started shortly after Christmas with a goal of “possibly getting involved in computers” as a career Pyda said. “Kevin was a bright, industrious and (a) very conscientious young man,” he said.

In addition to the work experience, he also tutored fifth grade students at Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School, in a class taught by Linda McKee, the same teacher who taught Kevin when he was in fifth grade. “He was quite an excellent young man….it was quite a tragedy,” McKee said. “Kevin had a wonderful charisma with children of all ages……a certain quality liked by everyone,” McKee added. “He helped me work with children, grading papers and worked small groups of children, it’s going to leave a real void in everyone’s life,” she said. “He came back into my life on a daily basis,” the teacher said. 

After the news of the youth’s death was received at Emerson school, McKee said “several children came up to me and gave me big hugs.” She told the students the tragic news, “because they had to know, because he was part of their life.” 

Lynn Mingori, Kevin’s U.S. Government teacher last semester, said, “Kevin had a great future to look forward to……he was a nice kid.” Bill Larson, Kevin’s guidance counselor, said the student had a “math aptitude.” “He was a real likeable student, with sensitivity, friendliness, with lots of friends and a nice family,” Larson added.

The youth leaves his mother, father and a brother Michael, 19, all of the family home in Burbank. He is also survived by two grandmothers, Lilly Allison of Vista and Ione Elsner of Encinitas and a grandfather, Merl Clark of Glendora, as well as numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins.