Christ Episcopal Recent Events/Parishioner Information
Recovery Work Begins
Shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit, we had several angels on the coast bring us a miracle. Those dedicated few left their warm, comfortable homes to support us in our time of need.
John Skinner, and his friends Bob Ducasse, Joyce Wyman, and Aston Dixon, were here from St. James Episcopal, in Port Charlotte, FL. John left after Hurricane Wilma passed his area, and undaunted, set about to repair parishioner's homes, including helping me with what was left of my lot. He addressed each and every job we asked him to look into. Unselfish to the core, he became a ray of hope for all.
John also gave us a beautiful wood carving he made of a crucifix with some vines. He hand-made this from wood. It is beautiful and I will get a photo of it online very soon.
Corinne Price was here with her group from St. Paul's Episcopal out of Hanover, VA. They drove for 2 days to get to the coast, and arrived during services on Sunday. Corinne and her church provided us with 2 temporary storage sheds. They immediately cleared the parking lot, put up the storage sheds, and we had a place to put things instead of laying them on the bare ground.
Here is a list of who attended from St. Paul's:
Rev. Jack Sutor
Donna Traecy
Sarah Traecy
Mark Lavender
Henry Hewitt
Sam Hewitt
Beverly Townes
Robbie Barber
Corinne Price
Greg Price
Thomas Cross
Martha Ellen Wingfield
Diane Freeman
Abigail Andrews is with St. Andrews Episcopal Church out of Wellesley, MA. She brought down an entire envelope filled with wonderful letters from their parishioners and the children. She and several others from her church got here on Sunday, and went to work almost immediately. In fact they were clearing the foundation slab and part of the front church lot when I returned to the church at around 5 p.m. Brick by brick they were moving the debris to piles that could be removed later as well as helping the Ammentrop home. By doing this, we did not have to be constantly reminded of our loss by viewing the debris each and every Sunday.
St. Johns Episcopal Church out of Kissimmee, FL, was onsite too. Their rector is Rev Cecil Radcliff III. While onsite they worked several chainsaw and fence removal jobs, roof tarping and onsite clearing. They also helped cook and provided aid to the Episcopal church in Long Beach. The group included the following volunteers: Ed Cundiff Deacon, Marion Lorenz, Tim & Terri Wetherington, Denise Jewell, Dutch Wieland (cook), Fred Strong, Harry Delprete, and Alfred Simanan.
John Pelham is with St. Mary's on the Highlands, out of Birmingham, AL, and arrived late Sunday evening. John and his group have brought heavy equipment, and they have worked very hard to clear the lot further. The rector of St. Mary's, Huey Gardner, arrived Tuesday November 8th. Their church provided blankets and general supplies. They submitted an article on Christ Church to The Living Church magazine. Thanks to their hurricane relief coordinator, Phillis Pelham, we may have a medal building, which would provide shelter from the elements. This church, and it's members, have been an inspiration to me of goodness and of how loving and caring people can be. The members that came to help included:
Rev. Huey Gardner
Dave Dresher
John Pelham
Brian Fluker
Melanie Barnes
Connie Frazier
Jim Davis
Phil Black
Wilma Lane
Paul Dorsey
Addresses for the churches mentioned above are:
St. Mary’s on the Highlands
P.O. Box 55245
Birmingham, AL 35255
Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church
P.O. Box 441
8050 St. Paul’s Road
Hanover, VA 23069-0441
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
79 Denton Road
Wellesley, Massachusetts 02482
Saint John’s Episcopal Church
1709 North John Young Parkway
Kissimmee, Florida 34741
New Keyboard!
Click here and Here to see more photos of our choir, and new keyboard from Sunday Service, November 6, 2005.
Christ Episcopal Church, Madison, Indiana, Provides Volunteer Services
Rev. Rick Draper, Joshua Anderson, June Taylor, Scott Cooper, Anne Lewis, Jeff and Julie Lake provided some volunteer work to Christ Church on January 27-29. They represent Christ Church out of Madison, Indiana.
The group drove here and provided much needed cleaning and clearing of the church grounds. You can visit their church website by Clicking Here.
St. Mary's Episcopal; Edmond, OK
Father Mark Story
Bill Lambert
Ed Sturm
Dion Crider
Tim Bridges
Scott Bridges
Tom Byrd
Ben Kenyon
Barbara Robinson
Charles Ming
Truman Hanson
Nancy Tarr
On Thursday afternoon at 4:00 a service was held in the Quonset hut building recently built on the church slab. There were about 12 members from our church that attended. Father Mark officiated the service as Elizabeth Wheatley, was away for the week at a disaster recovery conference. At the end of the service Father Mark presented their senior warden a check from St. Mary’s. This was the first mid-week church service held since before Katrina. The money coming in from St. Mary’s and others was used to help parishioners in need.
Corinne Price was back on January 13, 2006 along with her friends Robbie and Corine Barber. John Skinner of Port Charlotte returned for 10 days along with Joyce Wyman and Bob Ducasse. Together they provided assistance to parishioners, put up sheet rock, and cleared their lots.
Kathryn Larsen kneels in prayer.
Forty five parishioners attended services, September 18, 2005.
I attended service at Christ Episcopal on 18 September 2005. Service was held on the slab where the church once stood.
Of those attending I counted about 45 present. Army Major Anthony Clark, along with his staff, were in attendance. Major Clark offered his pastoral services to any church member who may need them this week.
Rev. Sally Hardie with Golden Gates Interfaith Disaster Organization, was in attendance. She is leading a group of church volunteers. This group will assist church parishioners if anyone needs trees cut, and/or some home repairs. They have a vast store of supplies and are willing to help any Parishioner that needs immediate assistance.
The service was very touching with some of the choir members leading in songs and prayers. There were few chairs and it was extremely hot, but everyone in attendance was glad to see and greet one another.
Services were held under a tent on the church grounds this date. There were approximately 50 in attendance. Reverend Rev. Wayne Nicholson, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Chester, New York, conducted the service.
(Note: this was written in early 2006)
Editor's Note: If a person's status is listed as "Unknown" it does not indicate that anything has happened to them but rather that I have had no communication from that member since before the storm.
Kimberly King, Website Editor
Of the known parishioners:
Parish families: 149
Homes destroyed: 47 known
Homes with severe damage: 27 known
Unaccounted for: 45
Homes classified as intact: 3
John and Genevieve Adams - Unknown
Toby Aldrich - Savannah, GA
Saundra Alessi and Joel Penton - Baton Rouge, LA
Madeleine and Kevin Ammentorp - Bay St. Louis, MS
Anne Ashman; Dixie Ashman - Canada
Lee and Betsy Ashman - Perkinston, MS
Michael and Diane Ashman - Perkinston, MS
Susanne Ashman - Unknown
Shannon Bacot - Bay St. Louis
Scott and Sandra Bagley - Bay St. Louis
Alice Baird - Mandeville, LA
Mildred Banscher - Passed away; Nursing Home; MS
David Baria - Mississippi
Garland and Margaret Belote, Jr. - Unknown
JoeDe Benvenutti - Bay St. Louis, MS
Stephen Benvenutti - Stone County, MS
Sara Benvenutti - Hattiesburg, MS
David and Avis Bourdette - Pass Christian
Vernon Bourdette - Pass Christian, MS
Merle Brennan - Waveland, MS
Diana Brisolara - Unknown
Scott and Linda Budd - Gulfport, MS
Samantha Burdette; Andrew MacNaughton - Unknown
Pat Callahan - Unknown
Kelly and Julie Cannon - Unknown
Ruth Carlson - Unknown
Wally and Sally Carnley - Unknown
Kippy and Jen Chamberlain - Jackson, MS
Walter and Malin Chamberlain - Bay St. Louis, MS
Jonie Clark - Springhill, FL
J.P. and Kay Compretta - Unknown
Joseph and Sheila Cordes - Unknown
Peggy Cordes - Michigan
Francis Crawley - Huntsville, AL
Joe and Marijane Curia - Unknown
Jim Dalrymple - Waveland, MS
Ted and Margene Dawson - Diamondhead, MS
Emily and Lorraine DeMontluzin - Florence, SC
Emily and her daughter, Lorraine, were going to stay (feeling safe in their house) when they got a call from a friend who lives in Alabama pleading with them to come to their house. They were away at the time but flat told them to leave or die. They explained that their housekeeper would open the house for them. They left at the last minute on Sunday and saved their lives.
Mildred Debardeleban - Unknown
Donald Diboll - California; with family
Patrick and Margo Dillon - Springhill, FL
Kathryn H. Dupre' - Andersonville, NC
Bobbie and Durkovich - Waveland, MS
Norma Edler - Diamondhead, MS
Arthur and Marion Emerson - Unknown
Jeff and Kimberly Kay Etheridge - Unknown
Keith Everman - Unknown
Stephanie Fussell - OK, but location unknown
Henry and Lu Fly - Diamondhead, MS
Warren and Jean Gardner - Fairhope, AL
Thelma Gelis - Seattle, WA
Bryce and Jennifer Gex - Waveland
Aline Gilbert - New Freedom, PA
Donald and Rose Marie Ginn - Unknown
Nancy Ginn - Bay St. Louis, MS
Tony Governale - OK but location unknown
Shannon Bacot Grannon and husband Stephen, Sarah Holland, and Cole - Bay St. Louis, MS
George and Donna Graves - Unknown
Corky and Molly Hadden - Seagrove, FL
C.J. and Kathy Hall - Cuba, AL
Steve and Heather Harper - Pearlington, MS
Philip and Leigh Hart - Unknown
Ira and Bennietta Hatchett - Unknown
Gary and Jyl Hedrick - Unknown
Stuart and Anne Henderson - Bay St. Louis, MS
Skip Higgins - Chattanooga, TN
Dottie Hodges - She is living in a hospice
Theodore Hoffman - Ok but location unknown
Gwen Hogan - Madison, MS
Carey and Denise Honea - Unknown
Mary Kay Hubbard - Long Beach, MS
Ellen James - Bay St. Louis, MS
Kenneth and Maxine Jaquith - Sanford, FL
Rachel Jarreau - Had a baby right before the storm
Arthur (Nick) and Gail Johnson - Georgia
Ashton Johnson - Memphis, TN
Debra Johnson - Kiln
Evelyn Johnson - Laguna Beach, CA
Matthew Kelly and Family - New York City, NY
Kimberly King - Fort Worth, TX
Al and Paula Kirsch - Unknown
John and Margaret Konowal - McKinney, TX
Mignon Kolp - Bay St. Louis, MS
John and Margaret Konowal - Unknown
Shirley Lansden - Florida
Kathryn and Paul Larsen - Diamondhead, MS
Linda Lightell - Unknown
Michael and Diane Lind and Family - Kiln, MS
Guy and Carla Lizana - Bay St. Louis
Fran Lucas - Unknown
Carl Marshall - Atlanta, GA
Karen McAlister - Anniston, AL
Wesley and Rosemary McFarland - Unknown
Deirdre McGowan - Jackson, MS
Jane McKinnon - Living in FEMA trailer on property
Mary Catherine Mitchell & Family - Houston, TX
Dootsie and Wayne Murphey - Natchez, MS
Gene and Karen Niolet - OK; Current location unknown
Neil Norton - MS State
Guy Norton - Stennis, MS
Allene Peery - Unknown
Norvin and Linda Penrose - Arkansas
Norvin Penrose, SR - Greenwood, MS
Helen Penrose and family - Green Bay, WI
Belle Penrose and family - Iowa
Nannette Penrose and Father - Slaughter, MS
Liz Perkins - Diamondhead, MS
Pat Powell - Unknown
Walter and Dottie Rausch - Mobile, AL
Michael and Georgia Reeves - Unknown
Frazer and Beverly Rice - New Orleans and Bay St. Louis
Darlene Roderick - Unknown
Edith Ruhr - Waveland
Terry Rush - Waveland, MS
Grace, Randy, and Woody Santa Cruz - Alabama
Woody and Grace Santa Cruz - Covington, LA
Edith Sigg - Unknown
John Simmons - Unknown
Gloria Smith - Ocean Springs, MS
Leila Spears - Unknown
Lyn Stabler - Madison, MS
Susan Stevens - Waveland, MS
Herb Stieffel - Waveland, MS
Leticia Stribling - Unknown
Nannette Stroh - Greenwood, MS
Terry Sullivan - Living with daughter, Jackson, MS
Robert Taconi - Diamondhead, MS
Cindy Taconi - Unknown
Larinda Tervelt - Peachtree City, GA
Richard and Dawn Thomas - Unknown
Bob and Ann Thomas - Baton Rouge, LA
Eloise Thomas - West Point, MS
Suzanne Truett - Houston, TX
Mark and Kim Uram - Bay St. Louis, MS
Dawn Walker - Gulfport, MS
Rob and Samantha Walley - Unknown
Elizabeth Watts - Bay St. Louis, MS
June White - Unknown
Jackie and Beth Williams - Unknown
Mary Winnard - Elm Grove, LA
James and Terri Wyly - Unknown
Peggy Young - Waveland, MS