The glory of the home’s entry is its ball-and-dowel wood fretwork over the transom and hall. Pam was able to save the original floors caked with mud from Ike by following

Bill’s advice. Instead of washing the mud out with water, she let it dry a month, then swept it away. In the living room doorway: Emma Houston.

HISTORIC GALVESTONHOME REBORN

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After 40 years of living in Houston, Pam

Houston was ready for a change. She had

lost her husband, Houston PR man and design

writer Sam Houston, to cancer; friends had

moved; children had started their own lives

around the country.

“I was ready to get out of the city—there was really nothing keep-ing me there anymore, but I didn’t know where I wanted to go,”says Pam.

“On a lark I decided to come down to Galveston with a friendto see a house that she was looking at buying. After lunch Ithought ‘Well…living here could be fun’.” Pam looked at onehouse—an 1898 two-story in the East End Historical District andher decision was made. She would make a new home for herself inGalveston.

A YEAR AFTER HURRICANE IKE FLOODED HER NEIGHBORHOOD AND HOME

WITH SALTWATER, ONE GALVESTON RESIDENT DISCUSSES THAT LONG NIGHT LAST

SEPTEMBER, THE ROAD TO RECOVERY, AND WHY SHE STILL LOVES HER ISLAND HOME.B y S A R A H G A N D Y • P h o t o g r a p h y b y M I R O D V O R S C A K

Even though the 1898 Victorian house in Galveston’s East End Historic District is raised off the ground, it took in

about 2 feet of salt water from Hurricane Ike’s storm surge. One year later, it looks none the worse for wear. A

“Historical Galveston Rebirth” banner hangs by the front door.

Pam Houston and Bill Beveridge in the garden by her guest cottage

where Bill moved after his apartment was destroyed by Hurricane Ike.

A brass plaque commemorates the water level from Ike’s storm surge.

“It was the first and only house I looked at,” says Pam. “I saw itat 3 on a Saturday afternoon and by Monday they’d accepted myoffer.” Within weeks the sale went through, but it’s with a certainamount of amazement that Pam remembers signing the papers topurchase the house. “Do you know when I closed on this house?September 13, 2007.” Exactly one year before the worst hurricanein over a century would strike the Texas coast.

After she closed on the house, Pam enlisted the help of friendand noted Houston interior designer Herbert Wells to guide her inher choices of paint and fabric. “Wainscoting Gray” went on livingand dining room walls, wood trim was painted “Marshmallow” andfor the front door, Wells specified a sassy coral-red “Geranium.”For the large antique sofa in the living room, Wells blessed Pam’schoice of a bright floral print fabric by Brunschwig & Fils. Oncethe cosmetic redo was complete, Pam settled comfortably into thehouse and grew to love Island life.

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

Fast forward 364 days to Friday, September 12, 2008. Weighingthe mixed messages from the media and local officials with her ownsuspicion that Category 2 Ike will continue to head east, Pamturned to an old friend, Bill Beveridge, who had helped her boardup her house. “I said ‘If you’ll stay with me, I’ll stay’. He said ‘Istay for them all.’”

On Friday morning the eye of the storm was still 18 hours out;the skies were blue and there was no significant wind, but whenBill took his dog for a walk that afternoon he saw that water wasrising into the street near Pam’s house. He decided they shouldboth seek higher ground several blocks away at a weekend housethat he managed.

“I don’t think anyone closed an eye that night…”“At 7 o’clock Friday night we lost power,” recalls Pam. “From thenon it was totally dark. I don’t think anyone closed an eye thatnight. You would hear terrible crashes and not know where theywere coming from. After the eye went over (at approximately 2 a.m. Saturday) that was the scariest part. The wind was so terribleit sounded like someone was screaming for four hours.”

Pam’s thoughts stayed with her new home. “From the house wewere in we could occasionally see the black flood waters come upover the fence outside. Then they’d subside a little. Then they’dcome back higher. I knew there had to be water in my house,” saysPam.

NO TIME TO MOPE

By daybreak, with the worst of the storm passed, Pam tried tomake it the four blocks to her home, but the flood waters still cov-ered the road. “It took me two trips before I could get all the wayto my house. And once I got here I didn’t have the nerve to go in.”

Pam asked Bill to make the trip with her so that she wouldn’thave to face the scene alone. By the end of the storm, two feet ofgray, muddy saltwater had flooded the inside of her house (thoughthe total surge for the neighborhood was approximately 6 feet,Pam’s house, like most on the Island, is raised up several feet). Inaddition to an extensive layer of mud, the waters had flipped her

Pam’s collection of mercury glass rests on an 18th-century lowboy that

belonged to Pam’s maternal great-grandfather.

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The dining room chairs upholstered in fabric chosen by Houston designer Herbert Wells were soaked with muddy saltwater from Ike. Every day Pam hauled them out into the

sun, then moved them inside at night. The upholstery survived well. The 19th-century corner cupboard was Pam’s maternal grandmother’s. Above the bookcase, at right, is

“Night Heron” by Galveston artist Rene Wiley. Yellow vases on the chest, at left, are from Cool Stuff, a Houston shop whose owners fled Hurricane Katrina.

large, long antique couch with theBrunschwig & Fils fabric she so lovedand rammed it into the wall. Herrefrigerator had also been turned onits back and wedged in a corner.

“It was a disaster,” says Pam. “Butyou take it in for a moment and afterthat it’s straight to work. There wasreally no time to mope.” Bill agrees, “Inever had Ike-itis like some peopledid, where you’re distraught and trau-matized. I just got to work.”

Galveston had no electric power orfresh water after the storm. Bill set upa grill on the street and cooked break-fast and dinner for about 50 people aday—to whomever showed up—forabout a month. The food came fromfreezers in the weekend houses hemanages; the homeowners asked himto use the food. “We were eating bet-ter than the mayor and others,” Billrecalls with a smile. “We even had afew restaurant owners there.” Later,the Galveston Daily News honoredBill with the Unsung Hero Award2009 “for unselfish efforts in makingGalveston county a better place tolive.”

THE ROAD HOME

Though the decision to stay is a con-troversial one, neither Pam nor Billhave any regrets, and in fact foundmany things to be grateful for follow-ing the storm. While many homeown-ers were denied access to the Islandfor two and a half weeks, Pam wasable to get straight to work, savingnearly all of her family’s antiques (inthe end only the antique sofa waslost), and preventing mold frominfesting her house. Even upholsteredfurniture was salvaged beautifully.“My dining chairs, my loveseat—every morning I would haul them outinto the sun. Every evening I wouldhaul them back inside before the 6 p. m. curfew,” says Pam. “I did thatevery day for a month and now youcan’t tell that anything happened tothem.”

Bill’s quick thinking lead to severalmore success stories around the house.“The first thing I wanted to do wasclean the mud off the floors,” saysPam, “But Bill said ‘No, let them dryfirst’.” According to Bill, who hadexperience with a low-lying lake house A glorious stained window in a niche off the kitchen survived Ike’s winds.

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ABOVE: The storm-tossed

kitchen had to be totally

redone, including new appli-

ances. Pam chose simple

replacement materials. Bill

installed cabinets from

Home Depot and laid the

black-and-white tile. Pink

flamingo lights, along with a

growing collection of flamin-

go glasses and drink stirrers,

remind visitors they’re on

the Island.

growing up, cleaning the fresh, sticky mud off the floors at that pointwould have required large amounts of water—essentially re-soakingthe hardwoods and causing them to cup. Once the mud was dry amonth later it could be easily swept up with a damp cloth. “The floornever buckled,” says Pam. “There’s still some mud between the boardsif you look closely, but I kind of like that. I’m careful not to vacuum itup—it gives it character.”

Antiques filled with linens and books presented an additional dilemma—when the fibrous contents flooded they caused the drawersto swell shut, a potentially fatal problem for both the antiques andcontents. Bill helped Pam carefully remove the backs of the furniture,allowing the contents to be removed and the antiques to air out.

In the months that followed, recovery continued including anextensive kitchen remodel which Bill helped her with (the pressedwood cabinets and appliances did not fare well in the flood), replant-ing of most of the salt-soaked landscape, and an entire redo of thelower lying guest house. Pam made an offer to Bill, whose rental househad been damaged in the storm—if he wanted to renovate the guesthouse he was welcome to live in it. And so the friendship continued asboth Pam and Bill each helped the other recover from the storm.

A BRIGHT FUTURE

These days a “Historical Galveston Rebirth” banner hangs outsidePam’s quaint front door and a bronze plaque commemorating thewaterline from Ike hangs a few feet below an older plaque commem-orating the house as a 1900 Storm Survivor. “These Galveston hous-es have been through a lot,” says Bill, “and they can handle a lot.”

Though Pam’s spirit marches ever forward, she’s found unique andeven charming ways to commemorate the events of the last yearthroughout the house. An avid art collector, many of Pam’s latestpieces reflect the storm and recovery. A painting by local artist ReneWiley commemorates the last day that the damaged Murdoch’sBathhouse was standing over the Gulf. A wrinkled, flood-ravagedblack and white coffee table book titled The Galveston that Was nowhangs poignantly in a silver shadow box frame in her kitchen, col-

lages of objects found post-Ike by Martha Terrill hang in the entry,and a large color-infused painting over the fireplace was a recent findat the local storm damaged shop Antiques Warehouse.

In looking towards the future Bill says, “I think the Island will bebetter than it was before. People are doing things to their houses andtheir yards that they wouldn’t have before. Businesses are retoolingand coming back stronger.” Pam agrees: “I’ve loved living here. I lovethis house, the back porch and the garden. I love the whole lifestyleon the Island. There’s no traffic, I can go to the beach, there are somany fun, nice people here, and there’s so much to do.”

Pam may be the ultimate Island convert, having only found a reason to cross back over the causeway five times since moving here.“I moved here on a whim in September 2007, and I’ve never lookedback.”

In Bill’s cozy living room, a framed flag above the console is the one his father, a Major in the U.S. Marines, captured with the men under his command at Guadalcanal in

World War II. On the table sits Bill’s award for heroism, a glass trophy the Galveston Daily News gave him inscribed “Unsung Hero Award 2009.” He manned a grill on the

street for about one month after Ike, feeding Galvestonians who had no food, electricity or potable running water.

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PAM’S FAVORITE SOURCES FOR LOCAL ART AND ARTIFACTS

ANTIQUE WAREHOUSE423 25th Street, 409.762.8620

BIG HOUSE ANTIQUES2212 Mechanic, 409.762.0559

COOL STUFF (Houston)1718 Westheimer, Houston, 713.523.5222

DESIGNWORKS2119A Postoffice, 409.766.7095

ISLAND RELICS911 22nd Street

RENE WILEY GALLERY2128 Postoffice, 409.457.7669

WAGNER SOUSA MODERN ART(currently represents Loretta Trevino)

404 25th Street, 409.392.3331

ABOVE: Bill’s dog Max enjoys the morning sun in the guest house. Bill, who was an

antiques dealer for years in Houston, now manages Island Relics in Galveston.

TOP RIGHT: The back porch affords a pleasant view of the garden. The vintage tablecloth is

from Island Relics.

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RIGHT: A new

pergola shades

the tiny garden

at the rear of the

house. Ike’s salt-

water killed most

of the plants, but

Pam replanted

the pots with

cheerful blooms

as soon as she

could after the

storm. The gar-

den will be on

tour Oct. 10-11

for the first ever

East End Fall

Garden Tour in

Galveston. See

more details in

Houston House

& Home’s

Oct. 09 issue.