Remembering Katrina: Survivor Makes Cleveland Home

By Dave Summers

CLEVELAND (WKYC) -- Lillian Jager is a Katrina survivor in every sense of the word.
She was recruited to work at the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department where she clerks in the Identification Bureau. "You could see how my eyes just like bulged out. I'm like are you serious?" Lillian said. She found motivation in the words of her then 13 year old daughter Brittany. "She said to me 'Stop crying and take care of us. We need you'," Lillian said.

She found strength in the kindness of others. On this second anniversary of the storm she is no longer looking back. Lillian, her husband and three kids lived in the suburb of Avondale on the west side of New Orleans before the storm. Even today, two years later, much of their former neighborhood remains leveled. Residents are still living in government trailers. "I've been back three times and home isn't home again," Lillian said.

The transition to her new home has not been easy. Lillian has taken her lumps since leaving. She blames the hardships of Katrina for her divorce."They diagnosed me with post traumatic stress syndrome because it was so hard for me as a mother and wife to take care of everybody else," Jager said. Still Lillian refuses to play the victim she detests what she calls the indignity of the term refugee. "We are human. We may be displaced but not one to take pity on," Jager said. Lillian and her family are true survivors in every sense of the word.

Her secret: "You can't fiddle about the little stuff you just got to smile regardless."

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