'Hurricane Kids' Welcomed at Catholic Schools in Oklahoma

By Eileen Dugan
The Sooner Catholic

As the winds and rain of Hurricane Katrina whipped up and levees in New Orleans began to give way, thousands of Gulf-Coast evacuees, many of them school children, streamed into neighboring states like Oklahoma. The schools in these communities, including many of our own Archdiocese, became safe havens for these traumatized children. These same schools were a godsend to their weary parents, a sign of stability in a world turned upside-down.

Director of Education and Superintendent of Catholic Schools Sister Catherine Powers, C.N.D. with the state’s approval cut through red tape, allowing the “hurricane kids” to enroll in archdiocesan schools without the usual records. By mid-September, as many as 25 evacuated children called Oklahoma Catholic schools their own.  

The two Denette brothers, Alex and Nicholas, and their sister Anna, together with their parents escaped to Lawton from Waveland, Mississippi, one of the hardest hit areas outside of New Orleans. All three children have enrolled at Saint Mary School in Lawton, Principal John Mizelle said.

“Their home was completely destroyed. They came here with just the clothes they had on,” Mizelle said. “They will probably be here until January. A 30-foot surge of water raced through their town, dumping six feet of water into their house. Everything they had was completely ruined.

“The children are doing excellent in school. Their dad is a professor of Biology at a junior college there, which was also badly damaged. The whole family is living in Lawton with their grandfather, the father’s parent,” Mizelle said.

Another Louisiana family who had enrolled their four children at Saint Mary’s has already returned to their home in Slidell, Louisiana, just north of New Orleans.

“They all got out before the levees broke,” Mizelle said. “The father has a brother here in Lawton, a retired military man, so they moved in with him.”

The father worked for Lockheed-Martin, building external fuel tanks for the space shuttle at a plant on the Port of New Orleans. After the storm, the family’s house and neighborhood remained intact, but the plant in New Orleans, where the father worked, was underwater. With no work for dad, the family decided to stay in Lawton. They enrolled the children at Saint Mary’s.

When the father was called back to New Orleans by Lockheed to help with the restructuring and rebuilding of his plant, the family decided to return to Louisiana. “Before they left, the dad thanked us. He said that when his kids arrived, they were pretty down-in-the-dumps. They enrolled at Saint Mary School and were welcomed so warmly, they wanted to stay,” Mizelle said.

Mary Zar, also from Slidell, is living in Yukon now and attending Saint John Nepomuk Catholic School. She is in the eighth grade.

“Mary is here by herself,” Principal Diane Floyd said. “Her family is still in a shelter in Louisiana. She is under the temporary guardianship of our computer teacher, Karen Bullock, a friend of the family. She is doing very well considering the transition.

“Our kids have been wonderful. Mary was easily accepted into her class. Many here at Saint John’s have been together for years. It’s nice to see that they have been very receptive to her,” Floyd said.

As Hurricane Katrina approached, the Brignac family of six fled to New Orleans from their home in Metairie, Louisiana, to stay with relatives. When New Orleans was evacuated, they fled to Houston to stay with an uncle. His house was too small for six additional family members, so the Brignacs trekked to Edmond to stay with friends.

Two of the four Brignac children were enrolled at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton School in Edmond for two of the three weeks they spent in Edmond. Alex was in eighth grade and Eugenie, in sixth. The Brignacs withdrew their children from Saint Elizabeth’s on September 16, to return to Metairie. “They were surprised that they were able to go back so quickly,” Administrative Assistant, Susan Raymer, said.

Saints Peter and Paul School in Kingfisher has enrolled one preschooler from the Gulf region, Beau Lawrence from New Orleans.  Beau is four-years-old and is in pre-kindergarten. He was in Kingfisher visiting his grandparents with his father when the hurricane struck. They decided to stay in Kingfisher. Beau is doing very well Principal Kim Kroener said.

The hurricane struck on Monday. Beau and his father did not hear from Beau’s mom in New Orleans until Thursday. She was safe. She flew to Oklahoma on that Friday. The Lawrences live three blocks from a river levee in New Orleans that didn’t break. Their house was not underwater, but a tree fell on their garage, damaging it.

“They consider themselves blessed,” Kroener said. “They plan to leave Beau here with his grandparents when they return home to check things out. They don’t want him to be exposed to anything too traumatic.”

The seven evacuees enrolled at Christ the King School in Oklahoma City were the subject of a newscast on a local television station. They told news reporters they were happy at Christ the King and wanted to stay.

Since then, two pupils have returned home: Gaige Rodriguez to New Orleans and Kayla Schwarz-endruber to Mississippi. Of the five               remaining Gulf-Coast students, the two boys, Darius Cunningham and Duriel Harris, are from New Orleans. Sisters Christina and Monica Morel and their cousin, Katie Matos, are from Slidell, Louisiana, Principal Norma Kramer said.

The three girls are related to Christ the King Youth Minister, Willy Fontanez. Fontanez had housed 18 evacuees from Louisiana in his house immediately after Hurricane Katrina, including his mom, who had just had spinal surgery. All of them had struggled on, first to Houston, and then to Oklahoma City, arriving at Fontanez’s house at 2 a.m. “They have all now found their own places,” Kramer said.

 Dylan Revolta from Pearl River, Louisiana, is in pre-school at Holy Trinity School in Okarche. Principal Mary Jane Wittrock reports that he is “doing really well. For the first couple of days he found if difficult to join in with the other children. Now he’s playing and talking more, just like any other 3-year-old.”

At first, the Revoltas had evacuated from Pearl River to Mississippi. When they returned home, they found their house completely destroyed. Then, the whole family, father, mother, an older brother now enrolled in public school, and Dylan, relocated to Mr. Revolta’s brother’s house in Okarche.

 “We’re delighted to have Dylan. Our students have all given to collections for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. It has been good for them to be involved with someone actually affected by the hurricane,” Wittrock said.

Suzette Williams, Principal of Saint Eugene School in Oklahoma City, said two girls, Azely and Bria Allen from New Orleans, are now at Saint Eugene’s. They began school on Monday, September 26. Azely is in kindergarten; Bria is in 5th grade.

Mr. and Mrs. Allen accompanied their daughters on their first day at Saint Eugene’s. The other parents welcomed them and made them all feel at home. “Azely was really happy, and her mom was pleased. It was the first time Azely hadn’t cried when she had been left some place without her family,” Williams said.

As Bria Allen walked down the hallway to her 5th-grade classroom, she was heard to say, “I think I’m really going to like it here.”

Other “hurricane kids” have attended or are now attending Sacred Heart School and Bishop McGuinness and Mount Saint Mary High Schools in Oklahoma City and All Saints School in Norman.