Helping Our Friends

By Charlie Maher

Fellow members of the Slidell Antique Auto Club (SACC), Roland and Jean Flick, lived in a very nice home, which was located in a quiet neighborhood in Clermont Harbor, Mississippi. Along with their home they had assembled a museum housing a very large collection of memorabilia and antiques, as well as a presentable collection of antique automobiles.  Thru the years they graciously invited numerous car clubs to come visit their collection, along with a very extensive, detailed and proudly given guided tour by Roland.   They did this thing purely out of love for their fellow hobbyist and friends.  Additionally, they have been, and are still very active in participating in AACA tours sponsored on local, regional and national levels.

On August 29, 2005 the greatest weather disaster ever to hit the Gulf Coast Region, Hurricane Katrina visited them, and relocated their house, removed the outer walls from the museum allowing the roof to fall onto the contents. Numerous items found a new location to call home several blocks away, as a result of a tidal surge 15 feet high.  (The peaks on the sides of the garage are 16 foot high)  While the garage was full of water, all of the antique automobiles and along with the extensive automotive memorabilia collection floated around and crashed to each other, like bumper cars at an amusement park, settling in their own precarious and awkward positions inside the building.  The floors of the building then became a modified syrup consisting of paper, car parts, insulation, wood, mud, dead chickens from the neighbor and anything else Mother Nature wished to deposit.  To top  things off, a very large pine tree landed in the middle of the roof causing extensive building frame damage.

            At the monthly meeting of SACC, on April 15, 2206, Roland and Jean Flick sent word   that they were soliciting help from the club members in their attempts to recover some of their cars and memorabilia from their heavily damaged garage. (The only building on their property that was still somewhat standing)  They needed help because there was not a clear path to anything inside the garage. The membership attending the monthly meeting reacted to the call of help from their fellow SACC members with an extremely high degree of enthusiasm.  Equipment such as a tractor, car trailers, chains, come-along, rakes, shovels, face masks, leather gloves, safety goggles, sun glasses, sweat bands, baseball hats, Red T shirts, and other items where immediately offered, along with the associated needed manpower.  The ladies rallied to coordinate bringing the needed food, drinks, tables and other items in support of a day of helping our friends. 

On Saturday, April 29, 2006 at 8:00 A.M. the men and ladies of the club who had volunteered to help, met at the I-10 East Mississippi Welcome station to begin the journey to the Flick’s damaged home in Clermont Harbor. Seeing the enthusiastic group as they each arrived was very emotional and heart warming. The group then caravanned to the St Ann’s Catholic Church, in Clermont Harbor, MS, which is located close to Flick’s property to organize the recovery efforts. (The church had 7 foot of water) The Flick’s property was located three blocks from the church, and not accessible to vehicles.

SACC members at the recovery event were: Noel & Gail Cazayoux, Wayne and Fay Clark, Don and Beth Crow, Charlie Froehlich, George Huntington, Charlie & Barbara Maher, Mary Lou Mayeaux, Paul and Lodell Rogerie, Clark & Joann Round, Gil & Camille Whittaker, Fred & Dot Wilbert and of course Roland and Jean Flick.

Upon the group’s arrival, the Flick’s home, museum and garage to us, seemed more severely damaged than what they had described.  However, once we had removed a 1947 Ford 2 door sedan, 1957 Chevrolet Station Wagon, 1948 Ford F-100 pickup, 1953 Ford Convertible and a 1931 Ford Model A Convertible from the garage it brought a high level of satisfaction that was evidenced by the group’s reactions.  Left behind were three Lincolns for their future fate.  Additionally, an access path was cleared inside the garage to allow the Flicks to dig through the remains in the building. 

            One cannot go without a special recognition to Don Crow, and his 1958 Massy Fergerson Tractor, which he bought, used in 1972.  He was the key to entire recovery effort.  As the brakes on all of the cars were frozen, they had to be physically dragged out of the garage. Don said that his memories as a young boy were that of driving a tractor long before he got behind the wheel of a car. Watching him do his tractor driving magic, one has to believe his story.

When the group finally took a much needed lunch break, the ladies had prepared a most enjoyable luncheon to take our minds off our tasks at hand, and to allow us to plan our actions for the rest of the day. 

It was very heart breaking to see the Flick’s pick up items, look at them, and then put them back where they found them laying.  It was as if they were passing down memory lane with the item in hand, then saying goodbye to a friend as they placed it back down with reverence. 

We know that there are more stories to be told about the hurricane, and its victims, but those are yet to be told.

The immediate response in support of the Flick’s call for help, in their desperate time of need, to me, is what belonging to a car club (or any club) is really all about.  The meetings are nice, the social interaction is always pleasing, the outings are an enjoyable monthly social session, the tours and the places visited are educational and fun, and the efforts to donate time and money to charitable organizations is highly commendable, but to help fellow club members in their personal time of need is what being an “Active Member” of a club is all about.   On behalf of Roland and Jean Flick, I thank my fellow members of the Slidell Antique Car Club for being caring and loving individuals. Some of our members obviously could not physically handle what work was performed, nor handle the stress of seeing the disastrous site, but their moral support was present, and is recognized and appreciated.  In my opinion, the members of the Slidell Antique Car Club are caring individuals, who can stand tall at any gathering and proudly say,
“We care”.