San Marino Woman Lost in Sequoia National Park

Sequoia National Park rangers are searching for Miss Barbara Magee, 38, daughter of Mrs. Frank M. Magee of 2788 Cumberland Road, San Marino, reported missing for a week from her cabin in the park.

Miss Magee, an employee of the Argus Employment Agency in Costa Mesa, has not been seen by neighbors in a nearby cabin since last Tuesday, it was reported by District Ranger Paul Turner.  She had rented a housekeeping cabin near Giant Forest, intending to stay until Sunday.  Turner said the cabin was searched when Miss Magee failed to claim her return bus reservation Saturday and that her belongings and barely touched supply of groceries were found there.

Miss Magee's brother, Richard, arrived at the park Monday to assist in the search.

Pasadena Star-News, June 29, 1965

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Park Halts Search for Missing Woman

Sequoia National Park - The Park Service said Friday it has abandoned the search for Barbara Magee, 38, of Newport Beach, last seen June 22 near her rented housekeeping cabin at Giant Forest.

The search has been underway since June 27 after the woman failed to show up at the bus that was to take her out of the park after a five-day visit.  She was believed to have disappeared only a few hours after she entered the park June 21.

San Diego Union, July 11, 1965

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Little Hope for Missing Hiker

Miss Barbara Magee, 38, Newport Beach, visitor in Sequoia National Park, has now been missing for more than 10 weeks without a positive clue.

Park officials have not given up, but the chances of finding her alive - unless she left the park unannounced - have practically disappeared.

It was June 22 that she was last seen positively at her cabin in Giant Forest Village. She was staying there alone.

Although formal search for her, or her body, was called off some time ago, after park rangers and others had scoured a wide area on foot and by air, the case is still open.

Rangers said all areas within hiking distance of the village have been gone over more than once on foot and by air.

Miss Magee's absence was not noticed until June 27, when she failed to appear to take a bus to Visalia, as she had planned. That was five days after anyone could recall later that she had been seen. There has been only one report of her having possibly been seen. Two park employees said they saw a woman "resembling" Miss Magee near Crescent Meadow June 27. When they saw her, however, they did not know she was "missing" and had not paid much attention to her among the many hikers on the trails. They viewed photographs shown them by her brother, Richard Magee, Newport Beach, and tentatively identified her as the hiker they had seen.

Miss Magee was an experienced hiker, park rangers said, but from indications at her cabin she had not planned to be gone long. She had not taken clothing enough or other personal effects to be gone overnight. Park officials said they have not dismissed the possibilities Miss Magee changed her plans and left the park unannounced some other way, or that she might have become a victim of animals. However, the most likely explanation now is that she met with an accident on a trail and is dead, they said. But they added it is unusual that her body has not been found by other hikers or park workers. Park rangers said they had hoped that with the large Labor Day weekend crowds in the park, her body or some clues might be reported, since all of the trails were pretty well filled with holiday visitors. However, not a word was heard.

The woman's brother was in the park throughout the period of intensive search and returned again later to spend another day searching and conferring with park officials. They added, however, that some of the trails she might have taken are rugged and she or her body being "off the trail" leaves plenty of possibility that it might be hidden only a relatively few feet away.

Tulare Advance-Register, September 8, 1965