Miss. family reunited at relative's Cape home

Retired meteorologist Mike Pind finds comfort with family.

A blast of air-conditioning and the taste of his aunt Aileen's barbecue and strawberry cobbler meant the worst was over for Mike Pind and his family.

Pind, a retired Navy meteorologist living in Picayune, Miss., endured Hurricane Katrina on Monday with his daughter and son-in-law, Page and Marcos Quinto, and their three children.

Pind, a 1965 graduate of Cape Central High School, arrived at the home of his aunt and uncle, Aileen and Willis "Brownie" Pind, shortly after 4:30 p.m. Thursday with his family in tow.

It had been a long, two-day journey from Picayune. First they headed west to Lafayette, La., then northwest to Texarkana, Ark. "We had to make a wide swath to get out of there," he said.

During the storm, Mike Pind's wife Faye Pind was visiting their other daughter in Chesapeake, Va. She left Saturday morning, before storm warnings and before evacuation orders.

Every 10 minutes during the worst of the hurricane, Mike and Faye Pind spoke on the telephone. They were reunited Thursday.

"The weariness hit us today," Faye Pind said. "It was wonderful to get back with them."

Too hot to stay

Family members in Picayune decided to leave their home, which emerged from the storm with only minor damage, when temperatures inside reached 110 degrees, Mike Pind said. "We stayed the second night, but we didn't hardly sleep at all," he said. "It is difficult to live in the hottest part of the summer without some relief."

As a meteorologist, Mike Pind was fascinated by the storm. The eye of the storm went right over the family's home.

His grandchildren were less impressed, daughter Page Quitno said. Her oldest boy, Marcos, 15, slept through most of the storm after working the previous day on boarding up neighborhood houses. Her two youngest, Peyton, 6, and Nicole, 4, spent the storm under a sturdy table with flashlights. "They thought that was cool," Page Quitno said.

The sturdy brick home was safe, she said, but the noises of the storm were troubling at times. "You hear creaks and it sounds like the whole house is swaying," she said.

Aileen Pind said she has plenty of ideas to keep the family well-fed during their stay in Cape Girardeau; Saturday's menu features chicken and dumplings.

"We're happy," she said. "We watched TV day and night during the hurricane. We talked with them Sunday to get them to come but they were too stubborn. I'm just glad their alive."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126