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Homeowner Bio
History has always played an active role in Claire Henderson’s life. But thinking of the past is more difficult than it use to be for Claire as she wonders what the future will bring.
“I’m in tourism and the history you cannot take away from the parish but any normalcy is still a long time coming.“
Claire is proud to represent St. Bernard Parish when she volunteers for the tourism board. But when you ask her about her hopes for the area she has always called home she sighs and reminds you of how much work is left to do.
“It was definitely better,” Claire Henderson says, referring to her life before the storm. “I worked a lot. I had my job. I had my dogs. I still had my mother.”
Katrina has been a long storm for Claire, as it has been for many others. Rebuilding her home is only part of the recovery process.
When the storm hit, her daughter, Candice, evacuated with friends, and Claire was hesitant to leave.
“I almost didn’t leave,” she admitted, “but my cousins from Baton Rouge kept leaving and said that I had to get out of here.”
Reluctantly, she left her dogs, Beau and Shelly, thinking that her neighbor would be able to check in on them after the bad weather had passed.
Unfortunately, Beau and Shelly did not survive the storm.
A year later Katrina claimed another victim, Claire’s mother Ethel Estopinol.
“She died of depression and heartache, “ Claire explains.
Life continued to be difficult for Claire, “I was always a private person, but now I can’t be. Everybody has gone through everything you own and they make the decision about what you keep and through out. What they thought was unnecessary and replaceable actually meant a lot.”
“I’d like to see St. Bernard return to a little more normalcy. I don’t know if that will happen in the next year, or the next two years.” Although, Clare would like to make the past part of the present, it seems almost impossible for it to return to the way it was before.
“I don’t even know if I could think of what I want it to return to,” Clare said. “It’s changed entirely. We’ll just have to accept what the parish turns out to be.”
House Update
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Under Construction
Some of our homes currently under Construction
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Sabrina Pacaccio, Violet, LA
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Vanessa Havers, St. Bernard, LA
Velma Lewis, New Orleans, LA
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