Remembering the Katrina memorial that almost wasn’t
11th August 2014 · 0 Comments
By Mary LaCoste
Contributing Writer
Within the old Charity Hospital Cemetery, and visible from Canal Street, is a little-known memorial dedicated to those who lost their lives in Hurricane Katrina. It is also the final resting place of 86 bodies that remained unclaimed after the storm, almost half of them unidentified. Well-designed, inspirational and lovely, the memorial is nestled among the dozen cemeteries clustered at the end of the Canal Streetcar Line. It is a memorial that almost did not happen.
The fact that it became a reality on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, August 29, 2008, was due to the perseverance of many people and an extraordinary final push to completion by the city’s funeral directors and the coroner. They deemed it inappropriate to let the bodies remain any longer in a warehouse. They cared.
One million dollars of FEMA money had been set aside by the city for a suitable memorial and for the burial of unclaimed bodies. Nothing happened until encouragement came in the form of donations including one of $100,000 from the Funeral Service Foundation, an arm of the National Funeral Directors Association. The African-American funeral directors of New Orleans, impatient and unhappy with the delays, took the lead in securing more funds and demanding action. Matthews International Corporation was contacted to design a suitable memorial, secure local input and order materials.
Work began in earnest in May 2008, less than three months before the target date of August 29. Much had to be done. The land in the front portions of the old Charity Hospital Cemetery, which has long served as a potters’ field, was carefully cleared and permits sought and granted. Monies had to be set aside to provide for future upkeep by Louisiana State University, the titleholder of the land.
Six mausoleum-like structures were completed and landscaping begun. A monument symbolizing the eye of the storm was the centerpiece of the design with walks curving out from it like the paths of encircling hurricane winds. Despite all obstacles, it looked as if it would be completed and the dedication would be held on time. As the date neared, Scott Anthony of the Funeral Service Foundation flew in from New York to take part in the ceremonies. He was proud of the role funeral directors from across the United States had played by their support.
Hearses, more than 60 of them, were loaned, free of cost, by funeral homes in and near New Orleans. Men and women from the funeral industry volunteered to drive the vehicles and act as pallbearers to carry the sealed metal coffins into the memorial cemetery. Arrangements were made for speakers, a jazz funeral procession and for the ringing of bells at the exact time of the first canal break at 9:38 am. Reporters from the national and local press were alerted.
Disaster! By August 28, Hurricane Gustav was in the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans was in the projected path! Evacuations had begun. Citizens, their emotions still raw from the terrors of Katrina, were leaving in droves. Would the August 29 dedication have to be cancelled? The planners would not let that happen. Led by the dedicated ladies of the funeral industry, such as Sandra Rhodes Duncan and C.C. Johnson, they pulled it together with some minor changes and an abbreviated jazz procession.
At the memorial site on August 29, the bells did ring at 9:28, echoing faint sounds of ringing across the city. Mayor Ray Nagin led the gathering in prayer as the last bodies were put into place to the sound of Ken Ferdinand’s trumpet playing “Amazing Grace.” There was a soul-stirring hymn sung by Jonti Short and an impromptu trumpet performance by Coroner Frank Minyard as those in the gathering dried tears from their eyes.
Louis Charbonnet remembers the long solemn line of hearses that transported the bodies from the storage warehouse to the memorial, the last one a glass-sided hearse, the kind used in jazz funerals. A rose was placed on each casket as it was interred. The once-neglected remains were, at last, treated with dignity.
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Russell Honoré was there to address the gathering that included a few members of the general public, religious and political figures, donors as well as the funeral professionals, now relieved that their job was done. One donor was able to return home just before the airport closed in advance of the expected hurricane.
It was expected that the dedication would have full national as well as local coverage, but there was almost none. Reporters had bigger stories to follow. For several days all focus would be on the new hurricane threat. The memorial dedication that should have been front-page news was overlooked, then forgotten — even when Hurricane Gustav went elsewhere. That is why, today, so few New Orleanians know of the existence of the graves or of the beautiful Katrina memorial.
The Katrina Memorial is indeed impressive. Weeks after the dedication, the planned walkway and landscaping were completed. Some say the walkway design reminds them of a labyrinth inviting visitors to stroll and to meditate. The six rectangular structures containing the crypts are faced with black granite that reflects the occasional visitor following the pathways. The large granite stone rising from the “eye” of the hurricane is inscribed with words of inspiration and explanation. Other markers identify the funeral directors and others who played parts in planning the memorial and seeing that it became a reality.
The Katrina Memorial is a suitable place to meditate and remember the terrible losses of the storm. It remains open each day to anyone who cares to reach in and unlatch the iron gates to the Charity Hospital Cemetery on Canal Street and walk a few feet into the past.
This article originally published in the August 11, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
