The Milwaukee-Google connection linksKatrina survivors in Texas, Mississippi

A week after Katrina, a glimmer of good news and a reminder about how small the world really is in this Google age.

Through this blog, written in Milwaukee, Louisiana storm survivors relocated to Mississippi and Texas have found one another.

Over the last few days, I have been telling people about the efforts of John Stocks, a Wisconsin friend with Gulf Coast roots, to help a New Orleans family forced from their homes and living in a Jackson, Miss. motel, nine people in a single room.

They are the family of Linda Ewell, by whom Stocks says he was "raised in significant measure. She was there the day I was born and she walked me out the door to college. She passed earlier this year. Her family has always been close to me. "

I've shared his progress reports and relayed information on how people could help. Stocks is planning a trip south on Wednesday to help them and his brother in Slidell, La.

Today, via this blog, I received a comment from Gail Lane Anderson, who said she had been trying unsuccessfully to locate that family. One of Linda Ewell's daughters, Lois, was Gail's ninth grade teacher more than 20 years ago, took Gail under her wing, and they have remained close ever since.

Gail Anderson lives in Covington, La. but her family is currently displaced to Longview, Tex. Their 19 family members left before the storm. She said she had been "worried sick" about the Ewell family and had not been able to get any information about them. She thought they might be in a shelter somewhere, but had no way to find out.

Tuesday morning, she decided to try Google, typed in a search for "Lois Ewell" and found a link to the Xoff Files.

Gail and Lois have spoken on the telephone, and Gail has invited the Ewell family to move into her home in Covington when it is ready to be reoccupied, probably in a week or two. Damage there was more from wind than water, she said, and they are mostly waiting for the electricity to come back on. (There is a little matter of a tree that fell on the house, but she says it did not do serious damage.) Her husband is already in Covington working on repairs.

Gail e-mails:

I've been searching for them since the storm hit and they weren't registered with the Red Cross. I decided to just punch in their names to Google and that's how I found you. Once I can get back home I told them they can stay with me. Hopefully it shouldn't be longer than another week. Lois and I have been close for over 20 years. I just hung up with her, they found her brother Percy in a shelter in Hattiesburg, MS. The rest of the family is in Atlanta, GA. I told her once we get settled into my home we'll figure out how to get to the other ones. Thanks for the postings I was really worried about them. Her spirits are down but I told her material things are just that and the fact that everyone is alive is all she needs to concentrate on for now. I will work to help her find a job in the school system and we'll make do until we find something else out.

There's another dimension to the story that I am hesitant to mention, but given all of the focus on race in the past week, perhaps it is noteworthy that these friendships transcend racial lines. Stocks is white; the Ewells are black; Gail Anderson, who is white, says she calls Lois Ewell "Mom" and is known as "Lois's white daughter."

The family still needs help. More information here and here.