Swiss Watches | Swiss Replica Watches | Imitation Cartier | Rolex Replica

Hurricane Katrina Symbolic Burial Helps Louisianans Remember, Move On

CHALMETTE, La. — Hundreds of mourners dropped notes, cards and letters – many of them stained with tears – into a steel-gray casket on Saturday in a symbolic burial of Hurricane Katrina.

One letter written by a child in red crayon said: "Go away from us." Another note remembered one of the 1,800 victims of Katrina: "R.I.P. Gloria, I will always love you." The casket, along with some of the anger, grief and frustration, was later interred under an appropriately dark sky as rain pounded umbrellas.

"I asked for no more suffering, for everything to come back to where it was," Walter Gifford, 47, said of his note. He rebuilt his home and moved back to the area near New Orleans. "I ask for the sadness for so many to end."

The church that celebrated the Mass, Our Lady of Prompt Succor, was flooded five years ago just like all but two buildings in St. Bernard Parish.

"I cried a lot while I wrote my letter," said Nancy Volpe, 61, who moved back into her house in November. "But I'm finally home. I can't tell you how much better I know the meaning of that word – home."

When the casket was finally closed, people applauded.

"I've been to many funerals," said Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond. "But I'm sure this is the first time I've heard applause when they closed the casket."

Funeral director Floyd W. Herty Jr. planned the service.

"I've been a funeral director all my adult life, and I know the power the service has to let people begin healing," Herty said.

Story continues below