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The Smith Sisters Witnessed 'A Manifestation Of Positive Energy' During Katrina

WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio | By Thomas Walsh
Published July 28, 2015 at 6:00 AM EDT
Crystal Smith, left, and her sister, Gwendolyn Smith, right, believe that Hurricane Katrina challenged the spirit of everyone who experienced it.
StoryCorps
Crystal Smith, left, and her sister, Gwendolyn Smith, right, believe that Hurricane Katrina challenged the spirit of everyone who experienced it.
Crystal Smith, left, and her sister, Gwendolyn Smith, right, believe that Hurricane Katrina challenged the spirit of everyone who experienced it.
StoryCorps
Crystal Smith, left, and her sister, Gwendolyn Smith, right, believe that Hurricane Katrina challenged the spirit of everyone who experienced it.

When Gwen Smith’s co-worker didn’t arrive for work before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005, Smith was forced to stay on the clock. By the time she left, it was too late to leave town and she was forced to ride out the storm with her sister, Crystal. The two women were in town for nearly a week and remember those days vividly.

Click here to listen to their story.

Gwen Smith was the youngest African-American on the board of the Alliance for Good Government and Crystal was Vice President of Civic Affairs for the same organization. They call Central City home. This interview was recorded at StoryCorps’ mobile studio in New Orleans.  

Copyright 2015 WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio
Louisiana News
Thomas Walsh
Thomas Walsh is an independent radio producer for WWNO. Each week he works to produce new editions of Louisiana Eats and All Things New Orleans, as well as Notes From New Orleans, The Farmer's Market Minute, and The Green Minute. Outside WWNO, Thomas is a volunteer disc jockey for WTUL, where he hosts a weekly live four-hour program broadcasting twentieth century classical music. Thomas has four years experience in audio engineering, and a BA from Trinity University in San Antonio where he double majored in communications and philosophy. Someday he will give away his entire collection of Grateful Dead concerts, which has swelled to unnecessary proportions in recent years.
See stories by Thomas Walsh