Pastor stayed behind in hurricane to minister to flock
The Rev. Marty Boddie, pastor of St. Matthews United
Methodist Church in High Island, Texas, says he felt called to remain
behind with area residents who chose not to evacuate during Hurricane
Ike. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. |
By Kathy L. Gilbert*
Oct. 2, 2008 | HIGH ISLAND, Texas (UMNS)
The hurricane winds howled constantly, like “a woman screaming bloody
murder,” and the waters rose all around them, but the Rev. Marty Boddie,
with his wife Nicole, felt at peace inside St. Matthews United
Methodist Church.
|
Jerry Harrington, whose High Island, Texas, home, was
destroyed by Hurricane Ike, points out how high water levels rose in his
yard before he evacuated
to higher ground.
|
As Hurricane Ike approached, officials warned residents that if they
decided to ride out the storm in this small coastal town, they should
write their Social Security numbers on their arms so their bodies could
be identified later.
Boddie knew many in his congregation and many in his community would not
leave. He felt called to stay with them. “It gave me a great
opportunity to minister to strangers and they also minister to us,” he
said. “I knew there would be a need for pastoral help after the storm.”
Hurricane Ike barreled into the Texas Gulf Coast around 2:30 a.m. on
Sept. 13. Water started rising in High Island the day before, on Friday
morning, and by early afternoon it was already over five feet. “By
Friday, all you could see was miles of water,” Boddie said.
The Boddies went door to door in the community, checking on people
before and after the storm. In the town of 500, more than 100 choose to
stay on the island.
“High Island has never flooded before,” he explained. “We are 20 to 30 feet above sea level, so many people felt safe.”
Trapped at home
On his rounds through town on Friday, Boddie found an elderly couple
trapped in their home. The woman lived in an assisted living facility in
Winnie, a town 18 miles inland from High Island. When Winnie was
evacuated, her husband brought her home to the island.
“They wouldn’t have survived,” he said. The couple was airlifted from
the church’s parking lot by a U.S. Army helicopter after Boddie called
for help. Another 60 people were also rescued from the parking lot that
day.
“One of the town constables was trying to rescue people in his dump
truck,” Boddie said. “The wind and water knocked the truck on its side
and all the people were dumped into the raging water. They were scared
and soaking wet.”
For three days after the storm, the island was completely cut off. Game
wardens, the National Guard and members of the Rita Recovery Team for
the United Methodist Texas Annual Conference were the first to bring in
water and MREs—ready-to-eat meals. “I called Angela Baker (director of
Rita Recovery) and they had supplies out to us right away,” he said. The
Federal Emergency Management Agency did not respond for six days, he
added.
Mrs. Boddie provided a taxi service for rescue workers, transporting
them back and forth from the church in the back of her truck for meals.
The Red Cross and Salvation Army still bring hot meals to the church
every day.
“Our families begged us to evacuate,” she said.
Hard-hit district
The Rev. Richard Burnham, superintendent of the southeast district of
the Texas Conference, visited with the Boddies as part of a tour
through portions of his district hit hardest by the hurricane.
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Boddie salvages family china at the church parsonage home of the Rev. Jeff and
Sandy Craft at Bay Vue United Methodist
Church in nearby Crystal Beach.
|
Bay Vue United Methodist Church and the parsonage a few miles down the
coast in Crystal Beach are destroyed. Canoes and surfboards from a
business down the road are lodged in two of the church’s front windows.
“This is the third parsonage I have seen where the pastors have lost
everything,” Burnham said, as he carefully picked up some china from the
toxic black mud to bring to the couple. “I am numb and so very, very
sad.”
Thirty percent of the houses around Orange, Texas, were flooded,
including about two-thirds of the homes of United Methodist congregation
members. In Bridge City, 95 percent of homes were flooded.
During a worship service in Bridge City after the hurricane, Burnham
asked the congregation of 150 how many had flooded homes. “Only two had
homes that didn’t flood,” he recalled.
Waiting in his white pickup truck outside the historic African-American
St. Paul United Methodist Church, trustee Modesto “Butch” White was
happy to report to Burnham that the 138-year-old church survived intact.
“My grandmother helped build this church,” he said. The roof is missing a
few shingles and a couple of the stained glass windows were broken.
Smiling, White said, “My life is saved, my house is saved, I’m fine.”
To aid in Hurricane Ike disaster relief in Texas and Louisiana, give to the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Give online,
drop checks in United Methodist church offering plates or send
donations to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087, with "Advance No.
3019695, Hurricanes 2008" on the memo line.
*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service writer based in Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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