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THE SEA COAST ECHO
jDAY, OCTOBER 7T 3
Echo staff photo by Bennie Shallber-or
Pearlington residents Pat and Harry Wilson, shown here outside their home, are determined to rebuild despite the challenges Katrina created for them.
Overcoming6 the end of the world’ in Pearlington
THE BRIDGES IS BACK!
Mi
L
BY BENNIE SHALLBETTER Staff Writer
ike most of us along the stretch of Gulf Coast affected by Hurricane Katrina, Pearlington residents Pat and Harry Wilson could not measure the value of their material possessions with a dollar sign.
"Everything we had in this house belonged to someone I loved," Pat W i1'.' i '.iid, ]	.
-.iciiu:	parenturo.it
grandparents. All the thin^* -we phmTied to leave for our children are gone."
W c [r ■ .u ; and the	lined	with
them, rir>t editions. Our inends have replaced books on the shelves, but o! course they are not our books-the1 ones we loved. One survived-I made it sur-vive-a leather-bound book of poems."
The Wilson's home of 50 years did not survive either, landing in three topsy turvy pieces across their property. "I wouldn't have given you fifty cents on ten-to-one odds that the house could have been repaired." said Pat.
The house had been covered by flood waters and the furniture and all its contents lay tangled in a jumbled mess inside.
*'	of
ents out to see their home.
"It was like the end of the world, our world," said Pat.
The couple moved back to their property in a FEMA trailer. Because it was their home of fifty years, they knew they would stay.
Like everyone in
town, they made their
way to the Pearlington
Recovery Center for
food, water and an empa-« • i - .
ii	i	f. c
ever} one to find the help they needed to rebniT<f their live'..
W ncti a ill unteers >> »i i * * n c
selves Picking Ip me Pieces" asked for something to do between Christmas and the New Year, Randall jumped at the chance to match the group with Pat and Harrs.
" 1 said I got plenty for you to do. Follow me. And 1 brought them here." said Randall." I knew the\ would fall in love with the WiNons."
Within a monu,. Pat said, she and Harr> v-. ,:v able to move inside.. though the house ' from finished. Attc "Picking Up the Pieces finished initial work, other groups followed, volunteers from St James Episcopal and more.
"A mob of people
The result is nothing short of a miracle, with details down to the bead board walls restored. Friends provided framed copies of some of the couple’s photographs of which they had copies; an elderly woman moving into a nursing home donated beautiful furniture; the couple were able to save a piece or two that they had repaired.
Pla-
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•••..in of the ■	-	1	me	all	New	Bridges	Golf	Course,	Hollywood	Casino	is	offering	a	rar<
.	x Bridg	’ ,-fKC. Present the half price coupon at the temporary Clubhouse for your
V-	tct golf course in Mississippi. The Bridges is open 6 days a week and closed
: ;'•-	:ocrve vour tee time now!
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the
t,ie*.C'> ot a piano, belonging to Pat s mother, rem-nents of her riverboat minstrel days, was transformed into a mantle piece. A bookshelf, a table, were washed and glued back together.
But, Pat said, like everyone else she learned a valuable lesson from the storm.
"You don't count what you lost. Everything important is sitting behind me with those old >lue eyes," she said of ! 1 trry.
I don't take every-■ _ Tor granted any-
-	:te or material ;	said Harry.
i	■ .	\	aluable	lesson k .	-,.»s learned,
he s.;:,:. v ::-.here are a
•	■ k .i.. i.,r •	-	j	in	the
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-P30.	-.	Haif	iW	Opening	.Styriall
*	m «ir* Must be a Mississipr* txing coupon upc''
I
Coastal Conservation Assoewjo presents
Pay Chapter's
mistt oh
FUNdraiscr
Saturday, October 14 Waveland Yacht