Tuesday, April 24, 2007

NOLA Katrina Memorial

Orleans Parish Coronor Dr. Frank Minyard is responsible for the interment of the unclaimed and unidentified New Orleans victims from Hurricane Katrina.
According to the state Department of Health and Hospitals, Katrina left 1,464 victims. Of those vicitims, 100 still remain
unidentified or unclaimed. The unclaimed remain at that classification because either the families cannot be located or, in some cases,
the families "don't want to pick them up". How sad. Minyard feels all Katrina victims deserve a better fate.
Organized in late 2006, the idea for the charitable, non-profit establishment of a memorial in New Orleans in honor of the Katrina victims,
including a mausoleum to house the unidentified and identified but unclaimed remains.
From the New Orleans Katrina Memorial Webpage

…..we are soliciting tax-deductible donations toward the construction costs of the memorial, estimated to exceed $1.5 million, including funds for the perpetual care of
this memorial. Matthews International has been selected to design and build the New Orleans Katrina Memorial.
The New Orleans Katrina Memorial will house these victims as well as provide remembrance plaques for all Katrina victims recovered in the city of New Orleans. Family members of the deceased are asked to contact the New Orleans Katrina Memorial Corporation.
The memorial incorporates both the curves of the hurricane and the meditative quality of a labyrinth, an initial idea conceived by Dr. Jeffrey
Rouse (the deputy New Orleans coroner dealing with psychiatric cases). The concept was then presented to Dave DeCarlo, Vice Chairman of
Matthews International Corporation, and a design team under the direction of Chris Kroll developed the rendering.

Update, September 2017: I found a webpage that hasn't expires that describes the Katrina Memorial Cemetary here.

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