The Sunshine Smile

“A lot of us were expecting it to be like Hurricane Camille… but oh boy, did I have it rough,” Coevie described the wrath of Hurricane Katrina from her wheelchair.  She spent the next two weeks in the hospital after the hurricane and she shakes her head as she recalls how people wanted to show her tapes of the storm. She simply told them, “No thank you – I was in it – I don’t want to relive it.”

Coevie had evacuated to her neighbor’s house next door – a decision she says was the worst mistake of her life. While she survived, her neighbor did not.  It is hard to imagine how she even made it to her neighbor’s house... how she made it up to another story in a wheelchair, and how she survived. But Coevie seemed rather reluctant to talk about how she
managed to live through the storm that took her friend’s, and so many others’ lives.

Coevie moved to Biloxi with her husband in the 1970s. He died a few short years later, and Coevie mentioned how she lost every memory of him to Katrina, as the storm washed away all traces of photos and memorabilia.  A few days after the storm a group of people started taking out trash and gutting the house. One of the guys told her that he could
wash the mold out of it.  Then, he started telling her the price. Thankfully, Coevie didn’t lose much on the deal, except the time, since the swindler didn’t do the job properly.

Coevie had met Hope Force International Project Coordinator Craig Snow at church previously. He couldn’t stop thinking about Coevie, so he asked her sister one day at church what was being done at Coevie’s house. Her reply: nothing.  Craig came over to the house with two ladies – and told Coevie that if she would give him the job, he would make sure it was done right. Right then, Coevie signed the contract over to him.

“I called the other guy back, but he never did return my call…” Coevie said, now thankful that HFI proceeded to rebuild her house.  “The Lord just sent Craig to me,” she said.  “Everything worked out nice and it’s just beautiful,” she gushed. “I even have a dryer now,” her eyes twinkled, “I’ve never had a dryer before!”

Craig’s wife, Beckie, took her to Lowes to pick out the flooring she liked. They even allowed her to pick the paint colors.  Coevie pointed to the bright yellow electric plug from her FEMA trailer and declared that was the color paint she wanted for her kitchen.  So when Beckie brought in a variety of quilts the Amish women from Pennsylvania had donated, she easily guessed that Coevie would choose the one with the most yellow in it.  It’s one of those colors that simply brightens a person’s mood – and it matches the color of Coevie’s smile: pure sunshine.  Despite all that she has been through in life and the storm, she has held on strongly to her faith and her smile.  And that’s something even Katrina couldn’t take away.