Hurricane Audrey Remembered, History: Cameron Parish, Louisiana
Source: Lake Charles American Press    May 31, 2004    Pg. 1
Submitted by Kathy Tell
Date Submitted: Jan 2006

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LCAP : The Informer
Cemetery Contains Monument to Victims 

Q.   I have heard that there was a mass burial somewhere in Lake Charles for some of the people from Cameron
who died in Hurricane Audrey. Can you tell us where this may be? And is there any kind of memorial for them? 


A.   Unidentified victims of Hurricane Audrey, which struck the Cameron coast in June 1957, were buried in a
mass grave in Combre Memorial Park, 2701 Opelousas St. A monument stands at the grave site. 
   "Caskets were used to bury those whose families were able to make an identification," reads a 1997
American Press story on Audrey’s effects. 
   The story detailed the recollections of Harold Mangum and Raymond Fondel Sr., both of whom worked at
local funeral homes when Audrey struck. 
   Mangum, 27 at the time, worked at Hixson Funeral Home. Fondel, then 17, worked for Gilmore’s. 
   "Pine boxes and mass burials ... were standard fare for victims who were never identified," said Mangum.
Those mass burials were mostly for blacks and were handled through black-owned funeral homes," reads the story. 
   "They had the largest number of unidentifieds, Mangum said. ... There were too many bodies to have
separate funerals, so they were taken to Combre’s Cemetery, where a mass burial was held. 
   "I was hoping that it was a dream and I would wake up," Fondel said of the ordeal. "But it wasn’t." 
   For more information on the monument, call Combre Funeral Home at 436-3341.