[StBernard] Rebuilding St. Bernard: A series on residents returning to their homes

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Fri Sep 8 22:23:54 EDT 2006


Families glad to be on Angela Avenue in Arabi

Ed Wilson's family built the home he lives in on Angela Avenue in Arabi more
than 100 years ago. David Lansou and his wife, Hazel, bought their home on
the same street in 1947.

By comparison, Ashley Reeb and her husband, Ronnie, are newcomers to Angela,
which runs along one side of Jackson Barracks to the Mississippi River.

But all share the desire to be back living in St. Bernard Parish after
Hurricane Katrina.
"I had no place else to go,'' said Wilson, 76, who lives with his dog,
Sedonia, and has been back in a home in the 500 block of Angela Drive since
December. He has lived in the house much of his life.

He stayed in St. Bernard until forced to leave after the hurricane, lived in
Covington for a while, then was in a FEMA trailer in his driveway as he
rebuilt most of the rooms in his home, which he had three feet of flood
water inside.

The house isn't finished but Wilson, who has relatives living nearby, has
most of it done.
"It's slow to get people to work'' on construction, he said.

Wilson said he likes the fact the area is coming back. "Half the block is
back,'' and improvement is continuing, he said. But he adds, "I think it
will take longer than expected.''

Lansou and his wife are in the 300 block of Angela, where they are living in
their home and fixing up the other side of a double.

"We're staying. I been here since 1947,'' said Lansou, an ex-Marine. "Me and
the home are the same age - 81.''

"We moved back in on Mardi Gras Day,'' he said. "I'm glad to be back in the
parish.''

Ashley Reeb, her husband and their young son moved into a rental home in the
500 block of Angela recently after living for a while in Metairie when their
previous Chalmette home was flooded in the storm.

"I just wanted to get home,'' said Ashley Reeb, a St. Bernard native. "I
hated Metairie. It's amazing the difference'' (between the parishes).

The traffic was bad in Jefferson Parish, she said, and "the people aren't
the same. They don't understand what happened'' in St. Bernard. "It didn't
happen to them. And when you talk to them about it they don't want to hear
it.''

She said it wouldn't have mattered to her if there hadn't been anyone else
on the block when they moved back as long as it was in St. Bernard.





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