Pieces of life donated to Katrina memorial
BILOXI - Bearing boxes and bags of salvaged mementos, dozens of locals arrived at the Town Green early Monday to donate their treasures to the Hurricane Katrina memorial.
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" designer Preston Sharp was on hand to accept the rescued items and talk with the donors about the sentiment behind each.
Donated objects may be chosen for display in a transparent case as part of the monument "Extreme Makeover" is building with the help of local architect Dennis Cowart, mosaic artist Elizabeth Veglia and contractor Roy Anderson Corp. Items not chosen as part of the memory case may become part of the memorial by being buried at the site or enshrined in the concrete structure.
Cathy Langlinais brought a poster that still hung on the wall of her children's great-grandparents' home on Crawford Street after being flooded. The poster depicted grandfather Louis Langlinais and Jennifer Sekul, the 1991 Shrimp King and Queen.
Langlinais will be married one year today; the wedding took place on Town Green and she said she is happy to contribute her memories to the monument being built in the place that means so much to her.
Ruthie Lawrence of Biloxi found a throw with an American flag design in the rubble next to her friend's home on Magnolia Street in Gulfport. The throw was covered in muck and smelled so bad she had to put it in a plastic bag in the trunk of her car to transport it home. She washed the item several times and cleaned it to a faded but recognizable version of the original.
Lawrence says her efforts just go to show "here on the Coast everything is torn up but can be put back together with time."
Tiffany Ladner lived in a historic home on Second Street in Gulfport prior to the storm. The house built in 1912 did not withstand Katrina, but Ladner salvaged a piece of the architecture along with a decorative pewter baby bowl.
Della and Finley McCaughan brought bags of rescued items including a 331/3 album "The Things We Did Last Summer" by Bing Crosby and the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra.
Some of the McCaughan's mementos were salvaged from the home of Katrina victims Charles and Anneliese Franklin. Charles was Della's brother-in-law and they were all friends. One item was a Spider-Man figure that Anna had bought for her niece's son in Germany but never got around to mailing.
Della McCaughan is pleased to see the memorial go up at Town Green.
"It is so wonderful here," she said, pointing to the beach, shrimp boats, museum and casinos all visible from the location. "It has everything that makes Biloxi and the whole Coast unique. They ask why people stay here. It is because of all these things."
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