The Town of Stonewall has recently lost one of its hardest workers to a much needed retirement, but everyone in Stonewall will always remember the big smile filled with love and experience that Lucy Rasco has.
Lucy Rasco has always been a hard worker, and her strong work ethic was instilled in her as she grew up.
“My dad worked at the cotton mill for a while, and when he left the cotton mill, he went to work at Keyfield in civil service,” stated Lucy. “We moved to Laurel from there when I was about eight years old and stayed there a while. Then, we moved to Gulf Port, and that’s where I graduated high school.”
Lucy didn’t waste any time after graduation to start working.
“I started working as a secretary for an attorney immediately after high school,” recalled Lucy. “I worked at Ingalls Shipyard for 21 years and took an early retirement when they offered because my mother was in bed with cancer, so I was able to take care of her until she passed away.”
Although she did always work hard, Lucy did settle down and start a family.
“I returned to Stonewall in late 1952, got married, and had three children,” stated Lucy. “I moved back to Pascagoula in 1955 and stayed there until Katrina in 2005, and that’s when I came back to Stonewall.”
At the time when Katrina hit her home, one of Lucy’s children lived with her at her house in Pascagoula. Lucy and her son had decided to stay home and take on the storm instead of evacuating; their experience is something Lucy will never forget.
“I was in Pascagoula when Katrina hit. I had over six feet of water in my house. My son and I swam out of the house, but I was unable to swim the way he was going because of the tide. He swam off and left me without realizing it. He swam down the road and turned a corner, and when he realized I wasn’t with him, he got scared and came back to find me,” remembered Lucy. “I was trying to go to a house across the street because it had a low window. I thought if I could stand up in that window sill, it’ll hold me up.”
Unfortunately, the tide did not allow Lucy to make it to the house across the street.
“The tide took me the other way, though, and blew my glasses off,” explained Lucy. “I went down and buoyed up a couple of times. I said, ‘Lord, you’re going to have to save me because I can’t save myself.’ All of a sudden when I came up, this tree limb was there, and I grabbed it. I worked my way up the limb until I got to the tree, and that’s where I stayed.”
When her son found her, she had already made it to the tree and was hanging on, with only her head sticking out of the dirty water since the water was warm underneath, and it was too cold above the water to be exposed. She was not alone in the tree waiting for waters to subside, though.
“When my son came back, he saw me in the tree and came over and stayed with me,” said Lucy. “There was a little bird up on the tree holding on and every now and then the wind would blow it down. It would just come back up. It never flew away; it stayed right there with us.”
Lucy and her son were blessed to be able to survive while hanging onto a tree. Their dog even swam off and managed to survive.
Unfortunately, the storm did take some things from Lucy that she treasured.
“The water went down pretty quickly. We were in that tree for a little over two hours before we were able to get down and walk through the water to the police station and then again to find refuge,” explained Lucy. “We later went back to our house, and there was nasty mud ankle deep all through the house. I lost everything, but the worst thing I lost were the pictures of my children when they were little and my parents who were gone. I’ll never be able to get those back.”
With her home destroyed from the storm, Lucy moved back to Stonewall.
“I left after Katrina hit and stayed in Vancleave at my minister’s house from September until November when I came back up here,” stated Lucy.
She immediately found a job and started working once she came back to Clarke County.
“I worked at the dollar store in Quitman until I decided to quit,” said Lucy. “Then, I sat with my aunt until she went into the nursing home. After that, I sat with Virginia Milstead on the weekends and worked here in Stonewall as the director for the food services for the senior citizens during the week.”
Lucy also got involved with her local church, the Stonewall United Methodist Church. She was the Chairman of Adminstrative Council and the treasurer for the church, and she loved her church family.
Lucy also became very involved in a group in Stonewall.
“I’ve been an active member of the Stonewall Historical Society,” stated Lucy. “I helped set up the museum and served as president of the group for a couple of years.”
Despite losing two children over the years and her home in Pascagoula, Lucy has remained faithful and optimistic.
“The good Lord has been good to me,” stated Lucy.
Now, although she had intended to stay in Stonewall the rest of her life, she is forced to move back to Pascagoula.
“I’m moving back to Pascagoula for health reasons,” explained Lucy. “I have a lot of close family who live in Pascagoula that can help me. I will really miss all of my friends and family that I have developed up here, though.”
It is her love for others and all her experiences that allows Lucy to be able to see everything clearly enough to leave these parting words for everyone in Clarke County:
“Open up, be friends, and live together in harmony. Don’t let any type of prejudice separate you from people.”
If you’d like to nominate someone in Clarke County for Person of the Week, please send the name and contact information for the person to bmangum@ clarkecountytrib.com.
