Report From The Gulf

Our ace reporter Jerry Gaudet checked on some of our classmates who live in the areas recently hit by the hurricanes.

Here is his report:

A number of our classmates live in the gulf states and may have been struck by this summer’s hurricane activity. Our hope is that they were spared great damage and inconvenience.

We have heard from several, noted below. You may care to keep these, and all those recovering from the hurricanes, in your thoughts and prayers.

Mike Andrews, Merritt Island, FL

…We, thankfully, have had no real damage. The last one, Wilma, was quite scary since it was such a surprise. Lots of wind, trees waving and limbs falling, but no real damage other than a few fences down. It was quite a bit better than last year.

…I have just completed my work as an Interim Pastor in Lake Mary, Florida and am looking forward to retirement, at least for a month or two. Our daughter is getting married in December, the first in our family, so we are busy with that.

Mike Andrews

Jeanette Berryhill Bryant, Ocala, FL

..We did not have any damage this year. In Ocala, we had a lot of wind and then a sunny afternoon. However, I did have damage last year. It was not as bad as a lot of people, but I did need a new roof as the result.

Jeanette

Sarah Lynn Black Jackson, Orlando, FL

no e-mail address available

Lynn Foard Nance, Panama City, FL

no e-mail address available

Nancy Gibson Tomlinson, Venice, FL

…we are truly in a blessed area of Venice. We had high winds and a lot of rain BUT NO DAMAGE with the exception of fallen trees which were stand alone and did not hurt anything. So we feel very fortunate. Of course, my husband had secured our home with shutters that would withstand a 2 x 4 coming at us at 250 miles an hour so we were not to worried anyway unless we lost the roof. We did not even lose our power since it is all under ground. Nanc

Jack Helms, Merritt Island, FL

By a message reply, we assume Jack to be OK.

Ann-Elizabeth Mitchell, New Smyrna Beach, FL

no e-mail address available

Gene Moore, Melbourne, FL

…Thanks for inquiring about hurricane damage. Fortunately Brevard county was not in the direct path of the latest hurricane, although certain areas experienced flooding and some wind damage. Fortunately, I live in one of the newer areas of the county which has good drainage. Barbara and I saw lots and lots and lots of rain along with high winds, but I do not believe they reached the level of hurricane velocity. I know that other areas of Florida were more badly hit. I have just returned from attending the Carolina/Miami football game, which was held in the Orange Bowl, and I saw substantial wind damage. Many of the unfortunate people down there (about 200 miles south of where I live near the Kennedy Space Center) still do not have electricity and I saw many traffic lights inoperative. I hope everyone in North Carolina is doing well. Think about me and your other Florida classmates enjoying the sun and warm weather when your temperature drops to 25 degrees in a few months.

Yours,

Gene Moore

Parks Reinhardt, Apopka, FL

…We are fine—no problems this year, so far.

Parks

Betty Sink Sublett, Ormond Beach, FL

no contact as yet

Gene VanCuren, Stuart FL
Stuart Fl…(which is about 40 miles north of West palm Beach or 100 miles north of Miami on the Atlantic). We had a piece of the eye, rather than a direct hit as the projected track had indicated. Oddly winds and damage was worse on the south side rather than the normal north east. I had one tree down and no physical damage to house. Out of electric for 5 days, survived by ice in a cooler, and food from the grill. We have a business downtown, which was back in business Tuesday.

…since power came on so did my computer and my internet connection…Gene

Claudia Wood Woodhouse, Seffner, FL

no contact as yet

Nancy Hartis Byers, Gautier, MS

via telephone, Nancy is OK and dealing with wind and rain damage.

Jackie Pickard Marcotte, Houston, TX

I have seen Jackie and understand that their home was not damaged, but they had “lots of tree damage and cleanup”.

Thanks Jerry. Nice job! I noticed that several of our classmates’ email didn’t respond. I think that they probably DO still have email, but have a different address now and have simply forgotten to let Jerry (the “Keeper of records”) know what it is.

If you’ve changed email addresses lately, be sure to tell Jerry to update his records.