Hardy Jackson
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Hardy Jackson (at one time mistakenly reported as "Harvey Jackson") was a resident of Biloxi, Mississippi who reportedly lost his wife of 29 years, Tonette Jackson, during Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.
His story was widely reported both nationally and internationally after television news stations began broadcasting the short interview with him by Jennifer Mayerle, a local TV reporter for WKRG. Hardy's story elicited an outpouring of emotion and his story was widely recorded in blogs, newspaper articles and TV reports all over the world.
Before the interview with Hardy, Mayerle was coming to the end of her news report from Biloxi, Mississippi. She had been describing the destruction in the town caused by Hurricane Katrina when she encountered Hardy and his family. Hardy described how his whole house split in two during the hurricane. He was holding onto his wife in the raging floodwaters before she said "You can't hold me, take care of the kids", and slipped away.
The first update was on Thursday, 1 September 2005. In the new report there is news that the body of his wife, Tonette Jackson, has been found and is in Gulfport, Mississippi. Hardy was going to walk but WKRG offered to take him there. Another update was broadcast the following morning. WKRG was going to take Hardy to see the body of his wife at the makeshift morgue in Gulfport, Mississippi. He was then told that the body of his wife probably wasn't there but more likely to be elsewhere in Biloxi.[citation needed] He found a photograph of her in the remains of what is left of their house. He was shown walking around the ruins repeatedly saying, "I tried, why'd you let go?"[citation needed]
Mayerle showed him some of messages that had been received from people wanting to know about him, his wife and family and how he was coping. "There's still good people in the world. Thank you", he said. Hardy is slowly coming to terms with the loss of his wife. His sister living nearby and a neighbour who helped him on the night the hurricane struck are both still alive. He plans to do as his wife asked when they were last together by looking after the kids.[1]
On September 2, 20/20 anchor Elizabeth Vargas reported that Hardy was on his way to Atlanta because someone has offered him and his family a room to stay.[citation needed]
On September 3, 2005 ABC News reported that an anonymous benefactor gave Hardy and his kids a house in Atlanta, Georgia. According to the report: "The Jackson family was picked up on Friday night by a van and driven to their new home.... Jackson, still mourning for his wife, feels extremely grateful for this gift. 'It feels like I'm dreaming,' he said. 'When will I wake up? Thank you.' The new house will help Jackson, a 54-year-old stay-at-home dad, fulfill his wife's final request that he takes care of the family. 'I'm happy, I'm just happy,' he said."[citation needed]
In a BBC report on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (broadcast on December 27, 2005), Hardy Jackson was interviewed. He still had not found the body of his wife.[2]
In 2006, Hardy Jackson's story was mentioned in the book The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, by Tulane University historian and best-selling author Douglas Brinkley.[3]
On August 29, 2006, Jackson was interviewed by Soledad O'Brien after 8:30 p.m. Eastern time during a Hurricane Katrina anniversary broadcast on CNN. Jackson said that he never found his wife's body and that his children are coping better than he is.
[edit] References
- "A quarter century of newsmakers", CNN Special Report, Friday, December 2, 2005; Posted: 9:17 p.m. EST (02:17 GMT), retrieved June 15, 2006.
- "Hurricane Katrina: One man's story", BBC News: In Depth, December 17, 2005, retrieved August 11, 2006.
- "Best-selling author, Tulane historian writes first major book on Katrina" by John Hill, The Shreveport Times, May 15, 2006, retrieved June 6, 2006.
