Naomi Ishida is with Wells Fargo's Customer Connection. In October 1989, Naomi assisted then-CEO Carl Reichardt.
About October 17, Naomi remembers, "I wasn't even here at the Bank — I was at the World Series game! You can tell where my loyalty was on that day."
Naomi was at Candlestick Park 
to see the San Francisco Giants host the Oakland Athletics in Game 3 of the World Series. The Fall Classic that year was dubbed "The Bay Bridge Series," after the span that connects Oakland and San Francisco. The powerful A's had taken the first two games in Oakland over the weekend, and were flyin' high on the strength of "The Bash Brothers" and the derring-do of Rickey Henderson. The Giants had their backs to the wall as the Series moved to the 'Stick.
The game was scheduled to begin after 5 p.m. on Tuesday the 17th. Many in the Bay Area took the day off to see the game, or left early to get home and watch it on TV. At 5:00, the game aired on ABC. Four minutes later, the earthquake struck.
"It shook pretty good at the ballpark," Naomi says. "The light standards were swaying back and forth. With the sound of the rumble, lots of fans thought folks were stomping their feet in excitement of the ballgame starting, before we all realized it was an earthquake."
"Some fans had small TVs with them," she continues, "and we quickly realized how bad this was. Surprisingly — and thankfully — once we were told to evacuate the ballpark, everyone was calm and exited as quickly but as calmly as possible...."
Candlestick Park is located right off US Highway 101 south of San Francisco. There are parking lots on three sides, and traffic before and after games can be a minor exercise in patience.
It was a little different that day, though. As Naomi recalls, it took "roughly 2 hours to get to 101...everything on the west side of 101, going south, was dark." People crept home on dark roads throughout the area. To get across the Bay, people had to go south to other bridges (even to San Jose) because a section of the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge had collapsed. That bridge was closed for a month for repairs.
The Series was delayed for ten days after Loma Prieta, as the Bay Area recovered from the disaster. The first two games were played with a feeling of exuberance, but the last two were played in jittery relief. The Athletics won handily in a four game sweep.
And what of Naomi's boss, Wells Fargo CEO Carl Reichart, who spent the day without his expert help?
"I am told that Mr. Reichardt was out of the building at that time," Naomi says. "His driver was trying to locate him, and he eventually got back to the building about an hour after the quake hit. He checked with folks still in the building, and offered a ride to anyone having to go to Marin County."
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