(Photo by Alan Ritter, reproduced with permission)

This page will guide you through possible further significant developments in the Rettenbacher story. Since the completion of the original story, I paid a visit to the Bancroft Library in late April 2005, and found many new interesting facts. Those findings are only hinted at in the footnotes of the original story ("part one"), but deserve full exposure. Similarly, the results of Arno Rettenbacher's search for Anna and Conrad's roots in Austria will be reported here. Arno hopes to find time for a careful check of dusty old church records in the Salzburg area during the summer of 2005. Other people might find other important clues. I plan another visit to the Ritter-Banner back side in 2005, this time with a working camera, and more photos might become available. All such material will be presented here one day. As to when exactly part deux will be written, your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps during the winter of 2005/06, perhaps sooner (or later). No promises. If you are really interested in how the writing of the second part is progressing, you are welcome to drop me a line at

Added in September 2005:
More pictures of the Rettenbachers' grave

Added in September 2006:
Sorry, I really didn't find time to organize additions to the story. Here are some random items: Clyde's (unpublished) report is interesting, but it doesn't provide much details on the exact place or circumstances of the accident. Several contemporary articles in the San Mateo Times reveal that Conrad and Anna came to the Ritter Range from Lake Tahoe, where they had spent the summer taking care of the Parks children. According to the paper, and contrary to what other newspaper reports were claiming, the burial didn't happen on Thursday, August 16, 1934, but several days later, because rangers (and Clyde?) couldn't easily retrieve the bodies from the glacier. I'm still in total darkness about Anna and Conrad's origins. Arno Rettenbacher couldn't find Conrad's birth records while doing his painstaking search in Tyrol's villages. A promising lead was found by Deborah Osterberg, a researcher in the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Pacific Region: a lawyer had written to the National Park Service in 1938, to get confirmation of the Rettenbachers' death, because an unknown party from Michigan (a family?) was involved in Conrad and Anna's estate litigation. Unfortunately, the lawyer (Jerome Politzer) is no longer alive, and the person who took over his practice is not aware of the Rettenbacher case. More to come (one day)...

Added in November 2006:
Port of New York immigration data, released online in November 2006, show that Konrad Rettenbacher (not Conrad!) and Anna Rettenbacher (nee Hertel) [or perhaps Härtel], have arrived to the US in 1926. Both were born and had families in Nürnberg, Germany. Konrad's brother Max Rettenbacher joined them in 1927. Check excerpts from immigration lists.

In December 2006, Mrs. Monika Rettenbacher from the greater Vienna area, was able to retrieve Anna's and Konrad's complete biographical information from the Stadtarchiv in Nürnberg. This will be posted at a later date. Attempts to find surviving members of Konrad's family among the Rettenbachers that live in Nürnberg today, have failed thus far.

Added in January 2009:
During another visit to the Nature Friends Clubhouse near Muir Woods, I discovered minutes from the Club meetings in 1934 and 1935, which show how deeply had the Rettenbacher accident affected Club members, and how they tried to find a closure to that painful episode.

BACK TO: Lonely Grave in the Sierra ("part one")