[StBernard] Katrina mystery ready to be solved

[Westley Annis]

Katrina mystery ready to be solved
By Bob Warren, The Times-Picayune 
January 03, 2010, 10:00AM

Heloise "Cookie'' Gauthe hopes she can be part of a little post-Christmas
miracle.

Gauthe, of Meraux, is trying to find the owner of a photograph that washed
up in Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters in 2005. She said the photograph,
which shows a progression of pictures of the same girl from kindergarten
through 12th grade, was found by a friend gutting a flooded house in Arabi.

Admittedly, she says, it's a small thing. But in St. Bernard Parish, as in
other parts of the metro area that sat in Katrina's putrid floodwaters,
small things - the ones that no amount of insurance or FEMA money can
replace - often can mean a lot.

Gauthe should know - her house in Arabi was flooded when the levees gave way
during Katrina.

"Anything you lost in the hurricane, you're grateful to get back -
especially your pictures,'' she said. "Wouldn't you want it back? I know I'd
want it back.''

Looking at the photo, she added, "I would say it's in excellent condition,
especially considering it was in the hurricane.''

Gauthe's been down this road before.

A couple months after Katrina, she found a container on Chef Menteur Highway
in eastern New Orleans. Inside it was a plaque, a picture from Chalmette
High School and some other items. Nothing of great value, except to the
owner, she said.

She brought it to a television news station and, soon after the story aired,
she was able to reunite the items with a very a happy man from Toca.
Katrina's floodwaters had floated the container from his home in rural St.
Bernard Parish into New Orleans.

A friend of Gauthe's helping clear flooded houses in Arabi remembered that
story when he found the photograph of the girl sometime in 2006 or 2007.

"I don't know if it floated there or maybe it was in the house that they
were gutting,'' she said. "But they remembered the story about the man from
Toca so they gave it to me.

"I said, 'What do you want me to do with this?' But I knew I'd have to try
and find who it belonged to.''

Gauthe put the photo away for safekeeping and forgot about it. She came
across it recently while emptying boxes after she moved to a house in
Meraux, back in St. Bernard Parish.

"I know somebody out there will want this back when they see it,'' she said.
"Pictures are worth a thousand words; you know that old saying. You can't
replace your pictures.

"It's a good feeling to help somebody find something they lost,'' she said.
"I hope I can make somebody's New Year.''

Gauthe can be reached at 504.609.9831.

See photos here:
http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/2010/01/post_22.html