Cathy Schneider

September 2024 Issue

by Edwina Hoyle
Photos submitted by Cathy Schneider

September 17 will mark 35 years since Hugo, a Category 5 hurricane, tore through the U.S. Virgin Islands and the southern coast of the United States. The island of St. Croix, which measures only 26 by 6 miles, is where Cathy Schneider survived the harrowing experience of September 1989 when Hugo swept through the U.S. territory with 168 mile per hour winds, destroying 90 percent of homes and businesses on the island. Communications and transportation were knocked out, and for a time, St. Croix’s 55,000 people were simply cut-off from the world. This included Cathy and Paul Schneider and their two sons, aged 6 months and three years old at the time.

Debris was eventually cleared, and it took months for full electricity and telephone service to be restored, but the psychological scars from what happened lasted much longer. Cathy said Hugo stalled over St. Croix, and its fury lasted all night. “It was horrible, and it took about ten years before I could talk about it without tears.”

In 1988 Cathy and Paul sold their liquor store in Brooklyn, New York, and moved to St. Croix for Paul to fulfill his dream of starting a sport fishing and tour business. A year later, Hugo stole everything from them.

Cathy said it was a Sunday afternoon, the sky was gray and there was a breeze. “I made a big pot of chili and some sweet tea. I’m a Southern girl,” she said. The family settled together in one room until they heard the sounds of glass breaking, so they moved to the den. Cathy nursed baby Nathan with a crib mattress covering them on the floor. Her husband and son, Cory, huddled on the couch covered in pillows. A few minutes later, the wall of glass in the other room shattered. It was a miracle they had moved to the den. Then Cory looked up and asked his father, “Daddy, is that the sky?”

“The roof had blown off and away,” Cathy said. “It sounded like 1,000 airplanes flying low over the house. That’s why we call it the Longest Night. Then my husband moved us downstairs to our bedroom because it was partly underground.” Paul carried his children first, then carried Cathy because there was so much water and glass.

“Our house was on the front side of the storm and had the most damage in our neighborhood. The next morning, neighbors came to check on us and were surprised we were alive. Everything was gone,” Cathy said. One neighbor gave her diapers, another gave her husband a t-shirt to wear, and everyone pulled together to help each other.

Hugo had stripped limbs from the trees. Palm trees were pulled from the ground and flung into their pool. All the water was sucked from the pool. “We carried our babies in knapsacks on our backs. Nobody knew how bad it was. I focused on survival: how to make it through the next half-hour; or the next three days; or making the best of this minute.”

“Now, 35 years later, I see myself with kids on our backs, nothing green, everything gray, there were no leaves, then the flies came. I am so thankful to get away with two babies. It made me a stronger woman,” Cathy said.

Three days after Hugo tore through their home, a friend in the US National Guard notified Cathy and Paul that a mercy flight was scheduled to evacuate women and children. Luckily, a US Coast Guard helicopter pilot noticed them with their babies on their backs. He said no one realized how bad things were until he had flown over the island. He asked them how it had been for them. “Everything’s gone,” Cathy said. “He put us in the helicopter, and we went to Puerto Rico, but I didn’t want to go to a shelter with the babies. He swore my husband in as an auxiliary officer so we could stay in a hotel. We were the first civilians lifted off St. Croix.”

Cathy couldn’t reach her parents in North Carolina because Hugo hit Charleston (SC) and moved through North Carolina. At that time, there were no cellphones, and her parents were frantic with worry. Paul and Cathy returned to the states, leased a house in North Carolina, and people stepped up to help them. Paul collected materials to rebuild, hired a crew from New York and went back for six months to reconstruct their home. The family returned to St. Croix for a couple of years, then a job offer landed them in Alabama, followed by a transfer to North Carolina. Cathy and Paul moved to Sun City in 2019.

Today Cathy’s daily mantra is, “May I be healthy; may I be happy; may I be safe; may I be at ease.”

 

Up Close:

• In January 1989, Paul caught a 665 lb. Marlin and holds the record for the largest fish caught on St. Croix.

• When the Schneiders moved stateside to Alabama, Cathy said her two boys had never been to a circus or even seen a train. They were fascinated by the escalator and rode up and down over and over. “We must have looked like the Beverly Hillbillies.”

• The Schneider family returned to St. Croix for the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Hugo. They visited friends and caught lobsters for dinner.

• Cathy is a basket weaver. Using natural materials, she constructs all kinds of baskets like Nantucket baskets and egg baskets. Sun City offers a plethora of activities, and Cathy is taking classes in stained glass. She wants to make jewelry, and she meditates.

• Best of all, Cathy is the “distribution lady” for Pink Magazine in her neighborhood. Every month she picks up at least eight copies and delivers them to her neighbors. Go Girl!