Grandfather of Reid intern dies in vets’ home in New Orleans

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2005 | 10:56 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- UNLV student Ricky Gourrier's grandfather spent 30 years in the Navy and survived a World War II torpedo attack that left him clamoring in the water for his life. But he did not survive Hurricane Katrina.

Retired Navy cook and New Orleans resident Alfred Gourrier, 96, died Sept. 1 of dehydration after he was evacuated to the veterans hospital in New Orleans, which lost power. His family is still seeking more details, Ricky Gourrier said.

His grandmother Edna was evacuated to Little Rock, Ark. She plans to attend the her husband's funeral, with full military honors, in Natchez, Miss., on Tuesday. They were married for 65 years.

"We're burying him in Natchez because we can't bury him in New Orleans," Ricky Gourrier said.

Much of Gourrier's sprawling family lived in the devastated city -- six aunts and uncles and spouses, a sister, her husband and a niece and nephew. They all escaped with their lives but little else, Gourrier said.

"Everybody has lost everything," Gourrier, 25, said.

His aunts and uncles are scattered by the storm, plotting their next moves, in Houston; Little Rock, Ark.; Slidell, La.; and Lafayette, La. One aunt has started to build a new life in Atlanta. His sister Lisa, 36, is eager to start over where her heart is -- in New Orleans, Gourrier said.

His sister's family fully expected to return and took little when she left. It wasn't the first time they had evacuated for a storm.

"The routine is that you just grab a few days worth of clothes and leave," he said. "But this was the Big Kahuna of hurricanes."

Gourrier is majoring in public relations at UNLV and is to graduate in December. The youngest boy of seven siblings, he is separated from his family, currently serving as an intern to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid in Washington.

Reid has been harsh in his assessment of the federal response to the hurricane that so closely touched the lives of one of his staffers. Reid recognized Gourrier today at a press conference where Senate Democrats unveiled legislation aimed at speeding the relief effort.

"He's mourning like so many people," Reid said. "His family is basically without anything. His story can be told tens of thousands of times."

Gourrier's father, Al Gourrier, moved his family from New Orleans to Las Vegas in 1989 when he took a job as principal at Lois Craig Elementary School.

Gourrier's grandfather was a church-going man who drilled the importance of education into his children and grandchildren, Ricky Gourrier said. He said the Navy veteran used to tell a story of scrambling in the water after his Navy ship was attacked. He used to describe how his life was saved when his wedding ring was caught on debris and kept him afloat, Gourrier said.

"That's the story I most remember him telling," Gourrier said.

Gourrier has been in touch with his traumatized family members, who feel fortunate to have escaped but now face rebuilding their lives from scratch. His sister is mourning the loss of wedding photos and a videotape of her children, ages 2 and 5.

"I can't imagine what my family is going through right now," Gourrier said.

It's difficult to process from afar the disaster to his hometown, he said.

"I see it all on TV, and most of the places I see I have been to, and I have memories from," he said.