Hurricane Rita, Cameron Parish, Louisiana
The Cameron Parish Pilot, Cameron, La
Submitted by Kathy Tell
Date 25 Jan 2006

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Where are they now?
Report on the evacuees

By NELL COLLIGAN 
Page 2, The Cameron Parish Pilot, Cameron, La., December 8, 2005


ELLA MAY THERIOT
MAE ANN HEBERT
ALA MAE
Ella Mae Theriot called to give me the Charles Lee Heberts’ phone number so that I could check on Mrs. Mecelda
Theriot who had triple by-pass surgery recently. When I called the Hebert’s home, Mae Ann Hebert, Mrs.
Mecelda’s daughter, said that Mrs. Mecelda is doing fairly well. Years ago doctors would not have attempted
heart surgery on an 89 year-old patient. I think it’s wonderful that she is up and around just a month after
surgery. Mae Ann told me that their home in Grand Chenier is badly damaged and will have to be torn down. They
live in Houston most of the time as that is where Micky works, but they usually come home to Grand Chenier on
weekends. Mae Ann also said that her sister, Ala Mae’s home was completely destroyed and is in the pasture
behind their property. I’m not sure where Ala Mae is living now.

Getting back to Ella Mae Theriot (hang in there with me) I learned that she was working at South Cameron
Elementary School when the storm hit. She, along with the teachers, principal and other workers from South
Cameron Elementary are now carrying out their duties at Grand Lake High School on Mondays, Tuesdays, and
halfdays on Wednesdays. Ella Mae lost her home in Grand Chenier. She is living at the Robert Hebert Trailer
Park in Grand Lake in a trailer she owns. When South Cameron Elementary is rebuilt, she plans to return to the
parish and set up her trailer on property she owns in Creole. Like so many others, she is thankful to still
have a job. It occurred to me that it must be comforting to the lower Cameron Parish students to have all
their own teachers and school personnel around them even though they have endured the hardships associated
with the evacuation and the loss of their school. As you all know, many other Cameron Parish students are
temporarily enrolled in schools throughout Louisiana and south east Texas.

STEVE PRICE
I heard from Diane Price today. She seems to have lived two lifetimes since I saw her last. Following the
storm she and Steve evacuated to Shreveport, then to Natchez, Miss., and are presently living in a FEMA camper
in Evangeline, in their son Keith’s yard. They do not plan to go back to Johnson Bayou but are looking to buy
a place in Jennings. Their daughter, Ashley, who is an honor roll student at UL, will be returning to school
in January. Diane and Steve have both had a number of medical issues in the past few years. Steve had a
cancerous prostate removed in 2002, followed by a major heart attack in the doctor’s office while he was
having the staples removed. He had double bypass surgery immediately thereafter, and is now disabled with only
15% of his heart functioning. In February 2003, Diane had a heart attack after which she had a double by-pass.
Then she developed an inoperable brain tumor for which she underwent Gamma Knife Radiation. The treatment
hopefully has taken care of the problem but the illnesses has left her also disabled. If the rest of you are
asking yourself what’s worse than losing your home, I guess I would have to say, that’s a bit worse.
Nevertheless, Diane sounds optimistic. She closed by saying, “Keith and his wife have good jobs and we are
very proud of Ashley, so we have no complaints about our children. Their decision to locate permanently near
Keith, as well as the doctors, seems a logical decision. 

DINAH BILLINGS
I also heard from another good friend, Dinah Billings. Her email address is: Dinah_billings@camsch.org. (For
all the school board teachers and support staff, their e-mail addresses are their first name followed by an
underscore, then their last name followed by @camsch.org.) She and Jason are living in a camper in the LeBleu
Settlement in their daughter Sara and Ronnie Nunez’s driveway. She said, “The ray of sunshine in all this is
that I’m next door to my very first grandchild— Olivia Morgan Nunez who was born on Aug. 19. She was a month
old when Rita hit and Jason and I have been enjoying her so much.” Dinah said, “This job is really a blessing
now with having to start over—both with the extra money and not having to stay by myself in a camper all day
in a strange place. It’s amazing how the good Lord takes care of us!!! Jason and I are anxious to go back home
though, and we will rebuild. Even with the place in such a rubble, it’s still home. I can’t wait to go back!”
Dinah added one last thought, which I thought was worth repeating. She said, “It’s funny how when you see
anyone from the parish, it’s like seeing your own brother or sister—you are so thrilled, can’t wait to hug
them. It goes to show how close our communities were before the storm, but like relatives, you sometimes don’t
realize it until they’re gone.”

VELMA "KATO" PICOU
BRENDA CONNER
It made me think of an incident that occurred during one of our visits to Cameron following the storm. Velma
“Kato” Picou and her daughter, Brenda Conner, had stopped on our street to talk with Deanne and me. When I
asked Brenda if they were going to return and rebuild, she said, “Mamma told us, ‘I was born in Cameron, I was
raised in Cameron, and I’m going to die in Cameron.’” After which, we all laughed. Then Brenda added, “So I
guess we’re going to come back and wait for her to die.” Kato laughed longest over that remark. Those of us
who know Brenda know she said that with the spirit of great humor and with great love for her mother. After
they drove away, Deanne said, “That’s what I love so much about Cameron--the people. It’s the people!”


Please mail your news to 302 Trailwood Lane; Lafayette, La. 70508 or email me at: nnadc67@aol.com or phone
337-988-5395.  NELL COLLIGAN 

The CAMERON PARISH PILOT- Weekly Publication
Jerry and Joy Wise, P.O. Drawer 1486, Cameron,La. 70631-8998