On this anniversary of Hurricane Katrina we want to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone at the University of Maine who helped give us refuge after the storm. The storm destroyed our house in Bay St. Louis, Miss., and the flooding in New Orleans shut down our workplace at the University of New Orleans for months.

Professor Peter Koons in the earth sciences department kindly worked through the university to set up temporary housing and a workplace for us during this critical period.

It is hard to overemphasize how important this, and the hospitality of everyone involved, was for us at the time. It turned a disaster into a positive through development of new professional associations and providing a shelter from the post-storm chaos of our lives.

We’ll never forget the time we spent in Orono and will always be grateful to everyone who helped us out after the disaster.

Terry Pavlis

Laura Serpa

University of

New Orleans