This distinctive black and grey stone monument commemorates the efforts of the Cameron Parish community who endured Hurricane Rita and those involved in the rebuilding program.  

Dedicated on Saturday, October 21, 2006, the monument was donated by SI Funeral Services, Hixson Funeral Homes and Johnson Funeral Home. These three companies were instrumental in the year-long re-internment process that included rescuing, identifying and reburying nearly 300 caskets and remains that were scattered as far as 30 miles away.

Keith Gallagher, SI Funeral Services regional manager (left) and Zeb Johnson, owner of Johnson Funeral Home and director of the Hurricane Rita Re-internment Program, examine the Wilbert Legacy custom designed photographic montage that decorated the carapace of the time capsule that was buried Saturday, October 21, 2006 in Cameron Parish, LA.  The montage depicts the ravishes of Hurricane Rita and the rescue/clean-up effort in 38 of the parish’s 40 cemeteries.  The time capsule was a Wilbert SS Triune® donated by Wilbert Funeral Services Licensee Network and SI Funeral Services.  A monument donated by SI, Johnson Funeral Home and Hixson Funeral Homes was also dedicated at the event.  SI and the two funeral homes were instrumental in the year-long process that included rescuing, identifying and reburying nearly 300 caskets and remains that were scattered as far as 30 miles away.

Hixson Funeral Homes and SI Funeral Services folks who attended and participated in the Cameron Parish Hurricane Rita Monument and Time Capsule Dedication are (l to r):  Charles Minyard, Hixson President; Harold Mangum, Hixson Funeral Director;  Keith Gallagher, SI Regional Manager; Matilda LaBove, Hixson Funeral Director; Dale Rogers, SI Beaumont Manager; Matilda Ann Bertrand, Hixson Funeral Director; Lucy Galloway, SI Sales & Marketing; Joe Suhor, SI CEO & Chairman; Dale Cameron, Wilbert Business Development Manager; Darrell Knight, SI Customer Service Representative (CSR); Javier Siefuenties, SI CSR; Bubba Brasseaux, Hixson Market Manager; and Jerrod Daigle, Hixson General Manager.

Most of these Hixson and SI folks were personally involved in the re-interment process.  Wilbert Funeral Services supplied the in-ground burial vaults and with SI donated the Time Capsule.

The three key individuals involved in the recovery/reburial process are pictured standing next to the Hurricane Rita Monument and behind the Time Capsule. They are Jerrod Daigle, General Manager of Hixson Funeral Home and Chairman of the Dedication Event; Zeb Johnson, President of Johnson Funeral Home and Director of the Re-interment Project; and Keith Gallagher, Regional Manager of SI Funeral Services which was responsible for refurbishing the 38 cemeteries that were disrupted by Hurricane Rita and the reburial of the nearly 300 recovered bodies.

On September 23-24, 2005, Hurricane Rita hit Cameron Parish, LA with 130 mile per hour winds and a 20 foot wall of water.  Shortly thereafter, SI Regional Manager Keith Gallagher (left), Hixson daughter and mother Funeral Directors Matilda Ann Bertrand and Matilda LaBove, and Hixson General Manager Jerrod Daigle started a project that would take until July, 2006 to complete. Ninety percent of Cameron Parish’s funerals were performed by Hixson Funeral Home. Before fleeing Hurricane Rita, the two Matildas boxed up and took all the burial records to Lake Charles.  It was this important information that allowed them and Jerrod to identify many of the 297 recovered caskets and remains.  The Hixson facility in Cameron Parish was totally destroyed and both these ladies lost their homes and all their belonging.  A total of 340 bodies were actually pulled from their graves and 43 were never recovered.  Two of bodies still missing are those of Matilda LaBove’s father and sister.

Joe Suhor and Keith Gallagher inspect the Hurricane Rita black and grey stone monument. When Gallagher was asked what the most difficult part of the recovery process was. Was it…Digging thru debris searching for bodies?  Working in marshlands?  The size of the area that had to be searched?  The number of cemeteries that had to be cleaned up?  Having to deal with alligators, snakes and other natural predators?   Or, serving the grieving families?  His answer was, “all of the above.”

Gallagher said his most memorable moment was probably after helping retrieve a casket from the marshes, when Zeb Johnson said to him, “I could see you were a little nervous about the nearby alligators but you didn’t seem worried about the water moccasin that was hanging on the other end of the casket.”  Gallagher said, “The only reason I wasn’t worried was I hadn’t seen it.  Believe me, I was a lot more attentive from then on.”

SI Regional Manager Keith Gallagher was quick to recognize the important part that all the area funeral homes played.  He pointed out that adding to the difficulty of the project was the fact the hurricane totally destroyed SCI’s Hixson Funeral Home in Cameron Parish and damaged their Lake Charles facility.  “The Hixson and Johnson Funeral Homes in Lake Charles worked along side us in the burial process,” he stated, “and the other two area funeral homes, Robison and Combre, helped by providing hearses to transport bodies from the holding area to the gravesites.  Since some families were having re-interment services it was also mandatory that all bodies be accompanied by a licensed funeral director.  All the funeral homes provided their services at no charge to any family or public entity.”

U.S. Representative Charles Boustany of Louisiana could not attend the dedication ceremony, but he visited the site earlier in the day to place two items in the time capsule.  The first was a copy of the Congressional Record with his speech before Congress about how the people of Cameron Parish were doing on the one year anniversary of Hurricane Rita. The second was a post-Rita letter to the residents of Cameron from Speaker of the House of Representatives, J. Dennis Hastert. The Congressman stated that all the members of Congress were impressed with the strength exhibited by the local folks.  He called the monument dedication and time capsule a milestone in the recovery process. He spent about 90 minutes visiting with others who came to place items in the capsule.

Joe Suhor, CEO and Chairman of Suhor, parent company of SI Funeral Services is seen placing an item into the Hurricane Rita Time Capsule.  When Zeb Johnson asked Keith Gallagher if SI could help in the re-interment process, Gallagher called Joe and told him the situation, adding, “I don’t know when we will get paid.”  Suhor quickly replied, “Do it. It’s the right thing to do.”

Rain forced the dedication for the Cameron Parish front courtyard inside to the courtroom.  This move definitely made the interdenominational Cameron Parish Combined Choir sound great.

Zeb Johnson, Assistant Coroner for the neighboring Calcasieu Parish Forensic center and owner of Johnson Funeral Home, directed the Hurricane Rita Re-interment Program in Cameron Parish. He is the person who selected SI Funeral Services to handle the re-building and re-burials in the parish’s 38 damaged cemeteries.  SI had handled a similar re-interment in Hardin, Missouri in 1992 when floodwaters washed away more than 800 caskets and bodies from a cemetery with graves dating back to the late 1800’s.  “The counsel of Keith Gallagher and SI Funeral Services made this work,” Johnson stated. “Without their knowledge and expertise I doubt that this would have been accomplished.” 

Charles Minyard, President of Hixson Funeral Homes, recognized the companies and individuals involved the re-interment process at the dedication ceremony.  They included SI Funeral Services; Hixson Funeral Homes and Johnson Funeral Home of Lake Charles, Louisiana; DMORT (Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team);  FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency); as well as rescue workers that included members of the Alabama Army National Guard, policemen, firemen, paramedics and volunteers from as far away as Kentucky, Illinois, California and France. 

Cameron Parish’s 1,500 students wrote stories and drew pictures recounting how Hurricane Rita affected their lives.  Representatives from the four schools in the parish presented the students work during the ceremony and later place the items in the time capsule.  Stephanie Rodrigue (right), Supervisor of Personnel for the School District, coordinated the student participation and also served as Mistress of Ceremony for the dedication.  Area residents, officials, media and those involved in the rescue effort also placed items in the time capsule.

Sam Jones, a member of the executive staff of Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, delivered a message from the Governor at the dedication ceremony and placed a speech she had made about Hurricanes Rita and Katrina into the time capsule.  In speaking about the efforts of the SI Funeral Services team, Jones stated, “You guys were all terrific.  What you gave to the people of Louisiana and particularly Cameron can never adequately be repaid."

Courtney Hearod, Lake Charles representative for U.S. Senator David Vitter (right), presented a flag from the Senator that flew over the Capitol Building in Washington, DC.  Members of VFW Post 9933 are seen folding the flag that was later placed in the time capsule.

About 90 minutes prior to the dedication ceremony, thunderstorms fell on the Cameron Parish Courthouse, so the event was moved from the front courtyard to inside the building.  The ceremony ended with the crowd joining the interdenominational Cameron Parish Combined Choir in the singing of the official state song, “You Are My Sunshine.”  During the singing of that song, the sky cleared and sunshine filled the courtroom.  The crowed exited the courthouse to close the time capsule and gathered for a Free Shrimp Boil under clear skies.  Interesting facts:  The courthouse is the only major building in Cameron that survived undamaged from both Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Audrey, nearly 50 years earlier.  Also, “You Are My Sunshine” was written by Jimmie Davis, known as Louisiana's singing governor.

With the ceremony completed the crowd returned to the front courtyard to deposit items into the time capsule.

Father Joseph McGrath of Scared Heart and St. Patrick’s Catholic Churches blessed the time capsule and monument.

The school children deposited the drawings and stories created by the 1,500 students at the Cameron Parish public schools, along with items from dignitaries like US Flag that flew over the Capital Building in Washington, DC, a letter from the Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastart, and copies of speeches given by Cathleen Babineaux Blanco and Congressman Charles Boustany

Joe Suhor, Keith Gallagher and the SI team closed the time capsule.

Following the dedication, everyone was invited to a Free Shrimp Boil sponsored by the Cameron Parish Police Jury. Pictured digging in to their large boat of shrimp, corn and potatoes are Dale Cameron, Wilbert Business Development Manger (left) and Keith Gallagher, SI Regional Manager.

BEFORE

An aerial shot of Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic cemetery in Cameron Parish immediately following Hurricane Rita (Sept. 25, 2005).  This is one of the 38 cemeteries in Cameron Parish that was breached when 130 mile per hour winds and a 20 foot wall of water hit the shore. In addition to turned over headstones, displaced grave covers and extensive debris, 340 caskets and remains were torn from the ground and scattered as far as 30 miles away into trees, fields and marshes/waterways filled with alligators and snakes.

AFTER

Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic cemetery on October 20, 2006, the evening before Cameron Parish commemorated a monument dedicated to the families whose lives and the reminds of their loved ones were disrupted by Hurricane Rita and those who helped return them to the original resting place.

Joe Suhor and Keith Gallagher visit the restored Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic cemetery.  Gallagher, Regional Manager for SI Funeral Services, headed the nearly year long effort of SI’s 10 person team.   “While miraculously none of Cameron Parish’s approximately 10,000 residents were killed by the storm, losing their homes, businesses and churches was disastrous. Having the final resting place of their loved ones destroyed was added agony,” says Suhor, Chairman/CEO, Suhor Industries (parent company of SI Funeral Services). “We were honored to be a part of the effort to restore this vital part of the Cameron Parish community.”

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