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Husband Finds Missing Wife at Red Cross Shelter
Written by
Kevin Titus
, Special to RedCross.org
Friday, September 16, 2005 — PASS CHRISTIAN, Miss – “Thank God she didn’t stay here and ride out the storm.”
On Sunday, September 11, Ed and Bess Benson, were reunited at a Red Cross shelter in Gulfport after 9 days of seeking each other and their three dogs in the devastated Gulf Coast area. Both in their 70s, their home in Pass Christian, Miss. was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina’s high waters.
Ed had returned to the remnants of his home in Pass Christian on September 3 after spending 18 months in Iraq as a civilian rebuilding expeditor. But his 75-year-old wife Bess and their three dogs were missing. He immediately began searching for them and pursuing every lead he could find, even spending the night in his car at a shopping center parking lot because he heard the dogs had been spotted near there.
Bess and Ed Benson happily reunited at a Red Cross shelter after Katrina damaged their home in Pass Christian. |
But Ed seemed to be two steps behind his wife in his search. He was especially concerned because Bess had exhibited signs of dementia, and friends said she left their house during the storm and not returned. The house, built on stilts 8 feet above ground level, had experienced an additional 8 feet of water inside the house.
The day before Ed arrived, state police had found Bess wandering, confused and traumatized by the events. She told police she was looking for her three Labradors, Moose, Mocha and Blanca, and the police took her to a Red Cross shelter on September 2, where she remained for nine days. At the shelter, she pitched in to keep the shelter running as smoothly as possible. Red Cross counselors spoke with her at the shelter to try to gauge her situation and provide the best care possible.
In the meantime, Ed was vigilant in his search. He posted flyers, he spoke with the coroner, he searched other shelters, he put signs up at the house, he even checked with local animal shelters hoping to find the dogs. At one animal shelter, Ed met a film crew from Dateline NBC working on a story on animals affected by Katrina. They took on Ed’s story, following his plight and hoping that their efforts would have a happy ending. The crew even arranged for him to stay with a generous family in Mobile, Alabama.
Ed finally found the dogs wandering in the area, but Bess wasn’t around. At still another Red Cross shelter, the manager -- a local Red Cross volunteer who herself had lost everything in the storm -- knew Bess, but had not seen her recently. Ed’s frustration grew with each near-miss, yet his hope remained because she had been spotted alive.
Finally, on Sunday, September 11, nine days after his arrival back in the US and nine days after Bess was transported to the shelter by caring police, Ed got a call that she was in a Red Cross shelter at Lizana Elementary School in Gulfport. He left Mobile immediately, and when he arrived at the Gulfport shelter and saw Bess, there were cries of joy and tears of relief. Bess and Ed immediately embraced in a reunion hug that squeezed away nine days of despair, anguish and frustration.
Bess later expressed her gratitude for all the Red Cross support at the shelter. “They were great,” she said. “Everyone was so nice and took such good care of me. I can’t thank them enough.”
After leaving the shelter with her husband, Ed and Bess went to their home so she could see the destruction Katrina had inflicted. Ed had moved most of their furniture out on the deck and lawn to dry. The debris pile near the street contained ruined artifacts of their life together and reeked like only storm debris can smell. The painting of an Indian that she did years earlier was salvageable, but little else could be saved after having been submerged in eight feet of water.
They couldn’t stay in their house, but they could be together again. While their recovery will take months, the reunion that they had on September 11 was the happy ending many people had hoped for.
All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like the Midwest ice storms, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation. Call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.
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