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Always together, to the end and beyond
By LEANORA MINAI, Times Staff Writer
Published August 16, 2004
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[Times photo: Willie J. Allen Jr.]
The wheelchair of Gordon Hawkins, 82, rests Sunday among the debris of the Crystal Lake mobile home park where they lived in Punta Gorda. Hawkins' body was found Friday next to the body of his wife, Joanne, also 82. Their 64-year-old son was injured but survived.
PUNTA GORDA - Gordon and Joanne Hawkins were both 82, had been married for 64 years and weren't going anywhere.
He suffered from dementia and got around in a wheelchair. She was too devoted to him to put him a nursing home.
Besides, neighbors said, they were both determined. Too determined to let a hurricane named Charley force them from their home of 20 years in the Crystal Lake mobile home park.
It was a decision that cost them their lives.
As Hurricane Charley tore through Punta Gorda on Friday, the Hawkinses were ripped from their living room and thrown 150 feet into the dirt across the street.
Their son, Richard Hawkins, 64, lived with them and was thrown into the closet of a mobile home across the street. He was treated for a serious head wound.
"It wasn't surprising to any of us that they wouldn't go," said neighbor Gayla Parent, 50. "Very stubborn. They wouldn't let people help them."
The residents of Crystal Lake are a close group, the kind of folks who share vegetable soup with their neighbors. They're a mix of seasonal and year-round residents, many who came from New York and Michigan for the sunshine and low cost of living. They live in at least 30 mobile homes that sit across from industrial warehouses and dot three avenues, Cindy, Clyde and Carl.
Now the land is littered with twisted aluminum, shards of plywood and the touches of home: a soggy New Testament opened to St. Luke; a scratched high school prom photo from 1986, a muddy red Christmas stocking.
The Hawkinses, originally from New York, lived on Carl Avenue. They had five children, neighbors said, and drove a white Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser station wagon.
"He was the most caring man," said neighbor Cecilia Carr, 55, who sifted through the rubble of her collapsed mobile home Sunday. "They would hug and kiss."
The couple were so independent they didn't trust banks and kept large amounts of money at home, neighbors said.
On Friday, as the hurricane swept closer, the Hawkinses and their son would not leave.
Neighbor Cesar Pares, 59, walked the neighborhood before Charley hit. He wanted to know who else was going to ride out the storm. He stopped at the Hawkinses' mobile home because he was worried about them. He chatted with their son.
"He was very confident," said Pares, a Vietnam veteran who works as a stage hand.
Pares went back to his trailer and hunkered down with his three dogs and parrot. His wife was in New York. He was watching the news when the power cut out and an antenna flew across his yard. The wind howled and blew a window out. Pares held a door closed with a picture frame he picked up at a flea market.
"The house, it was bouncing like it was running over railroad tracks," he said.
About an hour later, Pares emerged from his house and went straight to the Hawkinses' property. Only the foundation remained. A black tennis shoe sat near a porch step. Their Oldsmobile was overturned, wheels up.
Pares panicked.
"Hello! Hello!" he shouted. "Gordon! Gordon! Richard! Richard!"
No answer. He saw only mountains of debris everywhere, all along the street.
Pares said he climbed among pieces of mobile homes for a few hours Friday before he noticed a wheelchair.
"And then we look, and there's his wife, face up," Pares said.
Gordon and Joanne Hawkins were lying next to each other next to an overturned truck.
"They were always together," Pares said. "He was always in the wheelchair, and she was always sitting next to him."
About 45 minutes after he found the Hawkinses, Pares heard groaning coming from a closet of a destroyed mobile home.
Pares said he found the son bleeding from a large cut to the head. Pares asked him if he knew his name and what year it was.
"Oh, I just need water," Richard Hawkins said. Then he asked for his parents.
"He said the last thing he remembered is sitting in the living room with his mom and dad and he felt the wind pick him up and throw him through a wall, through another wall," Pares said.
Richard Hawkins was treated at a hospital and released to a shelter, Pares said. Rescuers were unable to get to the parents' bodies quickly, so they stayed on the side of the street until 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
"It's just such a sad thing," Pares said. "I finally cried this morning when I woke up."
The randomness of the hurricane's destruction was profound.
The Hawkinses were killed, and their mobile home was gone. But two doors down, Paul and Marjorie Peppin stayed through the storm and lived. They got to meet ABC television journalist Diane Sawyer as she toured the park Sunday.
The Peppins' mobile home was standing. The country antiques made it through. The china clock stood upright but couldn't ring. Still on the wall were the figures of Jesus and Mary that have hung over the couple's bed for 50 years.
"There's no rhyme or reason," said Mrs. Peppin, 76, a retired nurse from Michigan. "Nobody's to blame. We can't control Mother Nature."
[Last modified August 16, 2004, 01:21:12]
By LEANORA MINAI, Times Staff Writer
Published August 16, 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Times photo: Willie J. Allen Jr.]
The wheelchair of Gordon Hawkins, 82, rests Sunday among the debris of the Crystal Lake mobile home park where they lived in Punta Gorda. Hawkins' body was found Friday next to the body of his wife, Joanne, also 82. Their 64-year-old son was injured but survived.
PUNTA GORDA - Gordon and Joanne Hawkins were both 82, had been married for 64 years and weren't going anywhere.
He suffered from dementia and got around in a wheelchair. She was too devoted to him to put him a nursing home.
Besides, neighbors said, they were both determined. Too determined to let a hurricane named Charley force them from their home of 20 years in the Crystal Lake mobile home park.
It was a decision that cost them their lives.
As Hurricane Charley tore through Punta Gorda on Friday, the Hawkinses were ripped from their living room and thrown 150 feet into the dirt across the street.
Their son, Richard Hawkins, 64, lived with them and was thrown into the closet of a mobile home across the street. He was treated for a serious head wound.
"It wasn't surprising to any of us that they wouldn't go," said neighbor Gayla Parent, 50. "Very stubborn. They wouldn't let people help them."
The residents of Crystal Lake are a close group, the kind of folks who share vegetable soup with their neighbors. They're a mix of seasonal and year-round residents, many who came from New York and Michigan for the sunshine and low cost of living. They live in at least 30 mobile homes that sit across from industrial warehouses and dot three avenues, Cindy, Clyde and Carl.
Now the land is littered with twisted aluminum, shards of plywood and the touches of home: a soggy New Testament opened to St. Luke; a scratched high school prom photo from 1986, a muddy red Christmas stocking.
The Hawkinses, originally from New York, lived on Carl Avenue. They had five children, neighbors said, and drove a white Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser station wagon.
"He was the most caring man," said neighbor Cecilia Carr, 55, who sifted through the rubble of her collapsed mobile home Sunday. "They would hug and kiss."
The couple were so independent they didn't trust banks and kept large amounts of money at home, neighbors said.
On Friday, as the hurricane swept closer, the Hawkinses and their son would not leave.
Neighbor Cesar Pares, 59, walked the neighborhood before Charley hit. He wanted to know who else was going to ride out the storm. He stopped at the Hawkinses' mobile home because he was worried about them. He chatted with their son.
"He was very confident," said Pares, a Vietnam veteran who works as a stage hand.
Pares went back to his trailer and hunkered down with his three dogs and parrot. His wife was in New York. He was watching the news when the power cut out and an antenna flew across his yard. The wind howled and blew a window out. Pares held a door closed with a picture frame he picked up at a flea market.
"The house, it was bouncing like it was running over railroad tracks," he said.
About an hour later, Pares emerged from his house and went straight to the Hawkinses' property. Only the foundation remained. A black tennis shoe sat near a porch step. Their Oldsmobile was overturned, wheels up.
Pares panicked.
"Hello! Hello!" he shouted. "Gordon! Gordon! Richard! Richard!"
No answer. He saw only mountains of debris everywhere, all along the street.
Pares said he climbed among pieces of mobile homes for a few hours Friday before he noticed a wheelchair.
"And then we look, and there's his wife, face up," Pares said.
Gordon and Joanne Hawkins were lying next to each other next to an overturned truck.
"They were always together," Pares said. "He was always in the wheelchair, and she was always sitting next to him."
About 45 minutes after he found the Hawkinses, Pares heard groaning coming from a closet of a destroyed mobile home.
Pares said he found the son bleeding from a large cut to the head. Pares asked him if he knew his name and what year it was.
"Oh, I just need water," Richard Hawkins said. Then he asked for his parents.
"He said the last thing he remembered is sitting in the living room with his mom and dad and he felt the wind pick him up and throw him through a wall, through another wall," Pares said.
Richard Hawkins was treated at a hospital and released to a shelter, Pares said. Rescuers were unable to get to the parents' bodies quickly, so they stayed on the side of the street until 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
"It's just such a sad thing," Pares said. "I finally cried this morning when I woke up."
The randomness of the hurricane's destruction was profound.
The Hawkinses were killed, and their mobile home was gone. But two doors down, Paul and Marjorie Peppin stayed through the storm and lived. They got to meet ABC television journalist Diane Sawyer as she toured the park Sunday.
The Peppins' mobile home was standing. The country antiques made it through. The china clock stood upright but couldn't ring. Still on the wall were the figures of Jesus and Mary that have hung over the couple's bed for 50 years.
"There's no rhyme or reason," said Mrs. Peppin, 76, a retired nurse from Michigan. "Nobody's to blame. We can't control Mother Nature."
[Last modified August 16, 2004, 01:21:12]
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