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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHere lies Vera. God help us.
Vera after and before Katrina.
Her home.
This Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015, photo, John R. Lee walks by a memorial to Vera Smith, who he helped bury in a sidewalk tomb a decade ago following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Covered with a makeshift shroud that said "Here lies Vera, God help us," the grave became a symbol of the disorder in the city following the storm. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)
http://www.nola.com/katrina/index.ssf/2015/08/vera_smiths_death_after_hurric.html
Amid the chaos after Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans, Vera Smith's body decayed for four days on a sidewalk until her horrified neighbors covered her with dirt, a makeshift plastic shroud and a bleak epitaph: "Here lies Vera. God help us."
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Born in Mexico, Smith grew up in Texas and moved to New Orleans as a young woman decades before Katrina. Four marriages produced two daughters, now grown. For her final 15 or so years, Smith shared a small duplex with common-law husband C.N. Keene and their dogs. Their home was on Philip Street, just a few blocks from the columned mansions of St. Charles Avenue and a rough housing project that was demolished after the hurricane.
For years, her two daughters said, Smith helped operate a restaurant and bars even as she struggled with alcohol. A true New Orleans character, she loved fancy clothes and costume jewelry and had a wig for each day of the week. "She never had the same hair color two days in a row," said daughter Cindy Briones, 57. "You always knew when she was coming."
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Keene never saw Vera alive again; he was told she had been killed by a vehicle that struck her in the aftermath of the storm and sped away. Neighbors still believe she was struck by a car, but an autopsy report obtained by The Associated Press last week showed she had no injuries to indicate any sort of accident. The report doesn't list a cause of death, and the manner was undetermined. Her death remains a mystery...(more @ link)
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Born in Mexico, Smith grew up in Texas and moved to New Orleans as a young woman decades before Katrina. Four marriages produced two daughters, now grown. For her final 15 or so years, Smith shared a small duplex with common-law husband C.N. Keene and their dogs. Their home was on Philip Street, just a few blocks from the columned mansions of St. Charles Avenue and a rough housing project that was demolished after the hurricane.
For years, her two daughters said, Smith helped operate a restaurant and bars even as she struggled with alcohol. A true New Orleans character, she loved fancy clothes and costume jewelry and had a wig for each day of the week. "She never had the same hair color two days in a row," said daughter Cindy Briones, 57. "You always knew when she was coming."
(clip)
Keene never saw Vera alive again; he was told she had been killed by a vehicle that struck her in the aftermath of the storm and sped away. Neighbors still believe she was struck by a car, but an autopsy report obtained by The Associated Press last week showed she had no injuries to indicate any sort of accident. The report doesn't list a cause of death, and the manner was undetermined. Her death remains a mystery...(more @ link)
After all these years, this is the first time I've seen her picture. I had no idea she was white.
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Here lies Vera. God help us. (Original Post)
uppityperson
Aug 2015
OP
shenmue
(38,506 posts)1. ...
uppityperson
(115,677 posts)2. one kick
Texasgal
(17,045 posts)3. Third kick.
IVoteDFL
(417 posts)4. I'm sorry to say that I still don't fully comprehend the full extent of damage
Hurricane Katrina caused to the area. I was a self involved teen at the time all the way across the country. This anniversary seems like a good time to start educating myself and this post is a good start as I'd never seen the image before.
RIP Vera.