Three hurricanes, nine grandchildren, one great grandchild and a government- issued FEMA trailer is what Winette Thornton recalls as her worsts experience and her best accomplishments.

Winette lived in Pascagoula, Mississippi for a period which appears to not be a good residency area for the months of May to November since that is the Atlantic hurricane season. Thornton remembers these hurricane experiences as if it were just yesterday. She says she remembers preparing for the storm to come in early morning on Monday of September 1998 but as far as they were concerned, it was just going to be a tropical depression and it was their plan to weather it.

“We had water coming into our house and we had to leave in the middle of the storm and go to our neighbors house which was higher ground,” Thornton states. “We had to move our vehicles along with whatever possessions we could get out in such quick of time.”

She added, “The next morning, we actually had to go to our house on a boat. We had about four feet of water in our home. We lost all of our furniture and everything.”

According to the National Weather Service, 80 houses were damaged and 40 were completely damaged and destroyed from the hurricane just on the coast. While Winette and her family’s house did in fact flood during Hurricane George, she remembers being grateful after seeing the aftermath along the gulf coast where she lived at the time.

“George affected our family a great bit. We had to live in an RV for about 6 months and when our house got cleaned out our daughter and her family had to move in with us. They lived in one room with their whole family and all their belongings that they had left. It was a very trying time for our family,” Thornton remembers.

One of the biggest obstacles that Winette Thornton and her family had to jump over from mother nature was Hurricane Katrina. She remembers planning to stay in their home for the hurricane in August of 2005 until their granddaughter, who was terrified, talked them out of it she says.

Winette claims to remember Katrina the easiest, “We did not stay in our home, we took our dog and left our bird. We did not realize we would have over five foot of water. When we came home, we could not even get to our road.” She recalls “Our furniture, refrigerator and everything was just flipped up side down in side of our house.”

According to the National Weather Service, where Winette lived at the time they received around a 20-foot storm surge from the ferocious Hurricane Katrina which is a historic statistic.

“We were not able to move back into our home after Katrina. We moved in with our daughter 40 miles south. We received a government-issued FEMA trailer six months after the storm hit which we lived in behind my daughters house for about seven months while we built a new house that was ready to be moved into,” She added.

Rebuilding a home not only once but twice due to uncontrollable circumstances shows a personality trait such as resiliency in Winette Thornton and her daughter Robin describes her as loving and Christian-like.

“The best personality trait to describe Winette is that she is very loving and Christian grandmother to her entire family. She loves to talk a lot which makes her easy to get along with,” she jokes.

“Some of my favorite memories of her are her being at all of the grandchildren’s events that they are involved in whether it is football, baseball or softball its always anything and everything they are involved in,” Robin adds.

When asked what her biggest accomplishments are….

Winette humbly replies, “Well I have had a lot, but I went to college for two years and got my associate degree went to work then got married and had three kids. I now have nine grandchildren and one great grandchild. They are my life and I love them dearly so I would consider my family my greatest accomplishment.” 1997

1954

Winette Thornton (first)

Robin Harrell (last)