ARLINGTON – The effects of Hurricane Katrina have rippled all the way to Arlington, where one Mississippi couple have had an unexpected reunion with their grandchildren.
Dan Bates / The Herald
E.T. Tapper, 76, and his wife, Audra, 74, abandoned their home in Diamond Head, Miss., Aug. 27, two days before Katrina smashed through their unincorporated town north of Biloxi.
The Tappers had already fled twice this year from what turned out to be near-miss hurricanes.
This time was different – worse than any before, even worse than Hurricane Betsy, which inundated their home in 1965.
Having retreated to Pine Bluff, Ark., the Tappers, like hundreds of thousands of others, found themselves homeless with only a few changes of clothes.
Their son, the Rev. E.T. Tapper Jr., who has lived in Arlington the past three years, opened his home to his parents.
The hard part is only now sinking in: E.T. and Audra Tapper probably have left their Mississippi home for good.
“There’s nothing for them to go back to. We’re glad for them to be here,” Tapper Jr.’s wife, LaFaye, said. “It’s still hard for them. They’re still going to go through all this pain and grief.”
Seated together at the kitchen table, the elder Tapper, who had minutes earlier related yarns about life in the bayous, paused to shed a few tears. He told of the unbearable stress when his daughter, Marilyn, refused to abandon New Orleans as the storm approached, but changed her mind in time.
“She called last night, crying,” the elder Tapper said. “She wants to go home. I want to go home, too. But you can’t.”
The family has no idea how their home and possessions fared, because the authorities have not allowed them back in.
The elder Tapper said his son was disappointed they didn’t grab any family photos on the way out. Hurricane Betsy destroyed most of the photos from his early childhood, when the family lived in St. Bernards Parish, La., southeast of New Orleans.
Given their many relatives in the New Orleans and Biloxi areas, the family has far more on their minds than their lost possessions.
“I haven’t been able to get a hold of anybody on my father’s side of the family in Biloxi,” Tapper Jr. said.
For now, the grandparents are using granddaughter Kristin’s bedroom. The family has five kids and four adults squeezed into their four-bedroom home in the Gleneagle neighborhood.
Neighbors have welcomed them. Two young boys, Josh and Isaac Chisholm, heard about their plight and collected stray golf balls from the nearby golf course for a fundraising sale.
They showed up at the door with a plastic sandwich bag stuffed with $115.
The Tappers are returning the gesture. Kristin and her brother, Ben, will perform a benefit concert today in downtown Arlington to raise money for the American Red Cross.
“One of the good things is my kids can have their grandparents back,” Tapper Jr. said.
Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@ heraldnet.com.
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