Back home in the Big Easy Libby couple still struggling in New Orleans

Diedre Jefferson and Tony Bernard found refuge from Hurricane Katrina two years ago in Libby and settled in with the idea of permanently relocating to the outreaches of Northwest Montana.

If things had gone their way they might still be there, but in the end, the magnetic force of their native New Orleans pulled them back.

After six months in Libby, they packed their van and headed south. Three days later they were home.

It's good to be back in New Orleans with friends and family, Jefferson said in a telephone interview on Thursday, but life is still a struggle.

"I'm just trying to keep my head above water and see what my next move is going to be," she said.

The couple married in September 2005, not long after they arrived in Libby. They separated a few months ago, but continue to share custody of their son, now a kindergartner.

Bernard returned to his profession as a bricklayer, and there's ample work in New Orleans' flood-ravaged neighborhoods. Jefferson went back to work as a nurse until complications of her diabetes recently forced her to have foot surgery.

"There's still such a shortage of nurses, and I was making good money," she said.

An infection in her foot was so bad the first doctor suggested amputation. Jefferson got a second opinion and had surgery instead, but she doesn't know if or when she'll be able to return to nursing. She has other diabetes-related problems, too, such as failing kidneys.

Tahj, who has cerebral palsy, made great strides at the Head Start program in Libby and continues to make progress, Jefferson said. He receives physical therapy twice a week and starts kindergarten this month.

"He always talks about Montana," she said. "I do miss Montana, too. I miss the quietness."

SHORTLY BEFORE Easter in 2006 they were forced to leave their apartment at a subsidized complex in Libby. The Federal Emergency Management Agency paid their rent for six months; after that they were on their own.

"We tried to find a place in Kalispell, but you have to go through so much," Jefferson said.

Finding steady work for Bernard in Libby was a problem from the beginning. He worked for a short time peeling logs at Meadowlark Log Homes, but when the hours became sporadic, he went to work gathering ornamental rock from area quarries. That, too, has proven to be only part-time work. Bernard wanted to start his own company, but financing was an issue.

It seemed like the best solution to return to New Orleans, where friends, family and familiar ground awaited.

They lived in a small FEMA trailer parked on a friend's property for several months. Four months ago, Jefferson found a two-bedroom apartment that she now shares with her sister and two nephews ages 8 and 12. Her sister struggles with health problems, too, including diabetes and congestive heart failure.

"It's quite stressful," Jefferson said with a sigh. "But I'm glad that I'm home, back where my resources are."

The family home she and her sister owned in the Ninth Ward is uninhabitable. Their plan is to sell it to the state, "take the money and go our separate ways.

"I'd like to keep the house and start all over again, but my sister is so emotional," Jefferson said. "I tell her you got to get over it and move on."

Jefferson and Bernard, who were living in the home when Katrina hit, lost everything when the levee two blocks away broke. Not long after the disaster, a friend was able to retrieve two oil paintings of Jeffersons' parents and photo albums that survived on the top shelves of a bookcase.

THE COUPLE'S escape during Hurricane Katrina was swift and dramatic. Water in their home rose about 7 feet in 45 minutes. The family scrambled to the attic, where Bernard knocked a vent out of the roof to create a hole big enough to stick his arm through.

Rescuers in a boat saw Bernard's hand sticking out of the roof and took them to an impromptu shelter at a school. From there, Bernard commandeered a public transit bus and drove a group of evacuees through the flooding streets to an Interstate. Rescuers then took Jefferson, who had been without insulin for four days, and Tahj to a shelter in Gonzales, La. Bernard was diverted to a shelter in Texas.

Through the orchestration of a shelter worker with Libby connections and Libby residents Trent and Peggy Oelberg, the couple was reunited at Glacier Park International Airport and proceeded to make their home in Libby. The community opened its arms to the evacuees, donating furniture and household goods for their apartment.

Paul Barbarin, another evacuee who accompanied them to Libby, also has returned to New Orleans. Jefferson spoke to him once and learned he was living on the west side of the city. The last time she called, his phone was disconnected.

THERE ARE daily reminders of Katrina's wake, even two years later. Jefferson lost all of her paperwork, including savings bonds for Tahj.

"It's difficult trying to get duplicates," she said. "I've been working on it for over a year."

In the chaos of a full apartment, she finds herself longing for the serenity of Libby. And she vows to visit Montana again one day.

"Maybe by next summer," she mused. "We could take the train. I've talked to Peggy [Oelberg] and of course their door is open to us."

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com