Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 11:22 PM
Good Evening All,
Attached is a photograph I took today of Gary and Debra McCulley. Gary is laid off from Tri-State Envelope. Debra is a 5th-grade teacher at Wapello Elementary School, Wapello, Iowa. She is getting ready to return to the school after her summer break.
At first glance, as I was driving by, it appeared to me that they were among those more fortunate in the aftermath of the 2008 floods. Their modular home, built high enough to withstand extreme floodwaters, remained fairly unscathed. It required some minor repairs, compared to the surrounding devastation, to the electrical and water systems, and to the insulation underneath.
The day after the levee broke in mid-June, their son Scott went to check on his mom and dad. His truck was found on higher ground about a quarter mile away. Gary points, “Just up there. I guess he was just comin' ta check on things; not real sure.” Scott’s body was found a couple of days later, two and a half miles downstream. He would have been 36 on July 27th. The McCullys lost their daughter in a car accident back in ’96.
Gary chuckles when he says that FEMA told him they would pay for Scott's funeral. “Seems like they really don’t intend to pay. I reckon I never really expected them to; don’t know why they told me they would. Ah well.”
I have had numerous requests from many of you asking, “Is there anything we can do?” Other than coming out here, breaking your back, throwing up in your respirator … These people would not even accept any help from me. “There’s other folks need it more than us; but thanks.” They agreed to let me take their picture, however, when I said I would like to tell their story back home.
Gary and Debra McCulley
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