Wedding dress, family Bible survive storm's aftermath when all else is lost
I want to tell others not ever to give up hope - Debbie Rawls.

Debbie and Larry Rawls of Jasper were lucky to have extended family who could take them in and provide shelter after Hurricane Rita in 2005.

They both work for JISD and they have a grandson, Gene Barnes II, who lives with them. They continued to live in the 80-year old white frame house on Hopkins St. for as long as they could.

"This was my greatgrandmother's house," Debbie Rawls said. "It was the first house built in this section, and when my greatgrandmother went to register it, the judge asked her what she called the area.

"She said, well, there's just my brother and myself living out there and we're both independent, so the judge registered it as the indepedent quarters and that's how it got its name," Rawls said.

The storm did not destroy the house outright, but it leaked everywhere no matter how they tried to stop it. Rawls said it rained on her in bed, and water poured out of the ceiling fixtures everywhere. The whole family felt the effects of mold, and finally they fled after the ceiling fell in. She said she really wanted to save the historic house, but by the time the Mennonite Disaster Service came to her aid, it was beyond salvage.

But MDS understands history, and they found a compromise: the old concrete steps were saved. They lead to an expansive front porch that serves, as the old one did, as a gathering place for generations.

"My great-grandmother worked for Mr. Hopkins for 25 cents a week to buy this place, and everybody around here is family," Debbie Rawls said. "Those are the steps of knowledge right there, and this porch is where we learn."

Rawls is proud that her mother, Betty Adams Barnes Owens, was the first black to sit on city council in 1988. She only held office a few months before leukemia claimed her life.

"We've got a long history here," Rawls said.

The family lived with five different people. At one point, the couple separated over the difficulties of finding shelter.

Finally in November of 2007, Rawls said she remembers because it was two weeks before Thanksgiving, she read in The Jasper Newsboy about Self Help Housing (now Second Hope Homes) and contacted director Shelly Haynes.

"Shelly called me the week before Thanksgiving and told me 'you've got a home' and that I was approved," Debbie Rawls said.

"They (MDS) started on Jan. 7, lots of ladies and two men tearing the old house down. My family came and helped, too, but I was on crutches and could only watch," Rawls said.

Rawls said it was hard to see the old house go down, but even in that mess, when she though everything inside was surely lost, "one of the women came out and brought my wedding dress and my Bible to me, and it was not water damaged at all," Rawls marveled.

It took only a little more than two months to raise a new home in place of the old. It's ready to move into, after such a long wait, and the dedication was held last Thursday.

Rawls said they formed friendships that will continue. "Sometimes the Mennonites prepared food for us, and so we fixed food for them too.

"They came and prayed with me the day before my knee surgery. We prayed from Psalms 30:5, about joy comes in the morning, and that's the sign I want to put over my front door.

"I never would have though my family would have something this nice," Rawls said. "I can brag because this truly is a blessing from God, that these people would travel here and leave their own families to come and help us. Now we pray every night for the Mennonites and their families, and I want to tell others not ever to give up hope."