My Pre Katrina Life

When Katrina destroyed the Mississippi Coast and thousands of people lost their homes and possessions, I felt guilt because I didn't lose anything. Now that I have had almost fifteen months to think about it, I realized that I had already lost many things in the years leading to Katrina. In 1991, my husband was diagnosed with cancer and was unable to work at our business in Gulfport. Family members kept it afloat until we returned in 1996. Our home was a two hour commute so we rented an apartment and went home on weekends. In June 1999, we bought another home in Gulfport when we had enough of apartment living. We went to our "real" home on the weekends. In September 1999, an employee ran to me with the words I feared that I would hear one day, "Ms. R there is something wrong with Mr. R!". When the paramedics arrived at the office, he refused to go but I finally convinced him. At the hospital as a nurse went down a list of diseases that he might have, he answered "No" to ever having cancer. I knew then that he had relapsed. After a cat scan they released him as nothing showed up on the scan. In the months that followed he went downhill and at his request I took him back to where it all began for him. First to Baton Rouge, LA and then on to M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas where they diagnosed the worse form of a brain tumor ...... glioblastoma. It didn't show up on the cat scan at the time but more than two months had passed and now it covered more than half of his brain. Nothing could be done! He wanted to go back to our real home but it was too far away so we went "home" to the house in Gulfport. He died at a Biloxi hospital eight days later on December 3, 1999. I comfort myself with that, as in a way, he did go home. Biloxi was where it began for us.

I jokingly had a pet name for him as he took care of EVERYTHING and didn't want me to worry about anything or work for anyone but him. I honored those wishes and would say to him, "You are a sweet chauvinist pig!" Now I found myself in his role as boss at the office, responsible for maintenance on the cars and houses. The list grew each day. Three weeks after his death, my daughter, Anita and I were being prepped by lawyers for a federal court case in March of 2000. On a break, standing at the front entrance of the courthouse, I found myself showing my husband's memorial card to all the people outside. I was crying and so were they. The lawyers kept warning us about how tough the federal judge was. I asked to be taken before the judge and he was very proper and stern looking as I approached him. In the background was the United States Seal. We were talking and the attorneys were giving signals that I couldn't say certain things but when the judge laughed aloud they settled down. Anita was the brilliant spokesman for the company and I was there as owner. We survived that ordeal and continued to run the office. I couldn't walk out the door as it was incorporated and so a friend, an attorney, found an interested buyer. After walking through the office alone, I closed another chapter in my life on December 3, 2001. I then gave things away in Gulfport house, put a "For Sale" sign in the yard and went home with the intention of staying.

The house was showing signs of wear as we had neglected it for a long time so I set out to change it and make it entirely different for me. What was rustic soon had light wall colors and carpet. I hired a guy and his two sons. Every few days they were drawing on the money they wanted for the complete job and weren't actually progressing in the work. I was holding the last draw until they finished. When I told them that, they turned on me and demanded the money. Now here I am standing before three, very big, angry men. What could I do? After a short time, I gave them the money and asked them to leave. One of the sons sued me saying he injured himself while falling on my property. That didn't go anywhere but it nevertheless put a lot of stress on me. I finished the painting myself inside and all that I could reach on the outside of the house.

I had a plumber come to the house and replace any rusted pipes under the house (off the ground) with PVC and to leave the copper pipes. In a few days he was finished and he came to the door for payment. I told him first I would like to see what he did. He had stolen all the copper piping and had it bundled at the back of his truck for a quick getaway. He thought I would never know and hadn't expected me to look the job over. What could I do? Nothing! I decided to get the heck out of dodge before someone hurt me or worse. I hired a realtor. Late one evening I received a phone call from a man who had been a "thorn in our side" for years. He cussed me out and said he wanted his property back. The property association was suppose to have corrected the dispute by moving his property down so many feet in 1986 but they never filed it. He told me to take my "For Sale" sign down. I moved to Pascagoula in 2003 and it had been a year that I supposedly couldn't sell my house. I consulted a local attorney and he called them for me. He soon contacted me and told me to go ahead and sell my property. I put pictures on the internet with resounding laughter from family members and I sold it in less than four months.

I had thieves, unsavory characters that took advantage of my situation and shoddy workmanship similar to what has happened to the people here. My daughter has experienced it too. So now after looking back to what I endured, I thank the Lord for whatever reason I was spared this time!