Hello All, I am a Mississippi Girl with close ties to Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and Texas. I will be adding profiles to my collateral lines that I have been putting off. Not sure how many I will get done since I tend to add more than just a source and move on. I like doing as complete a profile as I can. Since most of these lines have at least one family member that I have encountered in person while gathering information on my family hopefully my notes contain some good photos and stories also. This challenge sounds like the perfect Thon for me!
Stephanie, I remember Camille well. I was about a 3rd grader and we lived in Holmes County on a huge farm my parents had. I had no clue what a hurricane was but I stood outside for the first hour when the winds hit and loved the feel of the wind in my hair. I finally went into the house when a large oak tree blew over near me. My Mother was raised in Washington Parish so she knew what a hurricane was even if her kids didn't.
When the storm was over I remember my Daddy and Mother gathering at a town meeting of our little small town of West, Mississippi to see what we could do for our neighbors down south. Someone who farmed had some large trucks with open beds they parked on the street in front of the town hall and people brought what they could for the people of Gulfport and surrounding areas. I remember that just a few short days later at night my Mother took us with her and drove Daddy to town. He had volunteered to drive our towns donations to Gulfport. The two trucks were packed full of donations. I was amazed at the generosity of the people of Mississippi. Also, the other thing that strikes me as I type this is that all those donations were in the back of those trucks starting the day before and no one stole anything, no one tried to run a scam to get government help, people for the most part, were honest and cared about their neighbors.
When Katrina came inland and all eyes were focused on New Orleans, Waveland Mississippi which is a small town was basically wiped off the map. Mississippians again took care of the people of the state.
This again reminds me that those of us who come from "Dixie" come from pioneer stock and know how to get the job done!! That means we must care for Our Tree as we care for those through floods, fires, and hurricanes.
I look forward to working with you all on our shared collateral tree and getting some branches added to my own grafted section of the tree!
