Andrew Molera, who was very obese, died of a sudden heart attack in 1931. His sister Frances became the sole owner of the family's Big Sur property. She arranged in 1965, almost 100 years after her grandfather John B.R. Cooper had gained title, to sell of the southern portion of the original Cooper land grant east of Highway 1 to The Nature Conservancy with the intent that it should become a state park. The conservancy held the beachfront property in trust until the state of California could finance the purchase of the land.