Irene Hanson (left) enjoys the company of new friends, including Norma Woodward (center), in her Mill Park Terrace apartment in Fredericksburg.

Hurricane Katrina victim finds new home, friends in Fredericksburg

Date published: 4/24/2006

I RENE HANSON misses the warm breezes off the Gulf of Mexico, but she doesn't miss the hurricanes that came with them.

"I couldn't go though another hurricane season. I'd be looking at the sky every two minutes," she said.

Tears pool in her blue eyes when she talks about Hurricane Katrina and what happened to her last August. Like an angry sea monster of legend, the Gulf swallowed her trailer home whole. It left nothing of hers behind.

We first introduced you to Hanson, 80, in January. The former Bay St. Louis, Miss., resident was living in the Best Western on State Route 3 through FEMA support.

We told you how she took refuge in a friend's house until it, too, filled with murky, chest-high water. How they climbed out a window. How she went underwater and thought she going to drown. How she clung to a tree for three hours, then made it to the roof of a house, then to a road and rescue.

She needed to make a fresh start, so she got on a bus and rode 36 hours to Fredericksburg. She found her way to the Best Western and lived there for more than four months.

Soon she made friends with the ladies of Hospice Magnolia Thrift Shop. Norma Woodward, Jackie Duke and Donna Markol helped her find a new home at Mill Park Terrace in Fredericksburg.

Together they found a couple of chairs, a twin bed and kitchen supplies to fill her new home. Complete strangers gave her a television and bookcases.

Some afternoons, her thrift shop friends come over for a visit and coffee. Other afternoons, Hanson volunteers at the shop.

"She's the grandma that I never had," Markol said. "She's full of a lot of wisdom."

The four women are planning a trip to the Charles Town races in West Virginia. And Hanson is learning how to get around on the FRED bus.

The tears well up again when she thinks of how helpful people here have been.

"I'm lucky that these people have been so good to me," she said. "They've treated me better than my family."

To reach SUZANNE CARR ROSSI: 540/374-5000, ext. 5439
Email: scarr@freelancestar.com

MOMENTS, produced by the photography staff of The Free Lance-Star, appears most Mondays. If you have ideas about people or places that may lend themselves to Moments, or comments about the column, please e-mail moments@freelancestar.com.

Date published: 4/24/2006