WLOX-TV and WLOX.com - The News for South MississippiBiloxi Family Gets Modular Home

Biloxi Family Gets Modular Home

Linda Hornsby hasn't given up on her plans to rebuild the Bayview Avenue home Katrina destroyed. However, she needed a temporary cure for her FEMA trailer blues. On Wednesday, a crane with the ability to lift 60,000 pounds provided the housing relief she was after.

"My husband's probably thinking I did this deliberately so I could start having Mardi Gras parties again," Hornsby said.

She was standing along Howard Avenue, recording an event as exciting as the parades that roll in front of her property every year. This parade had just one very significant float. It was the first half of the modular home she recently purchased. Hornsby was all smiles because the arrival of her purchase "means having a home again."

Hornsby's family lost its Howard Avenue home in a 1999 fire. And then, she lost her Bayview Avenue home during Katrina. The Hornsbys had to do something to get out of a FEMA trailer. So in October, Mrs. Hornsby ordered a modular home.

"This isn't what the plan was," she admitted. "But like I said, after attending so many funerals, I said life is too short, and we need to get into a home while we rebuild our home on Bayview."

Her temporary home barely squeezed under a set of cables.

"Oh that's a relief," she gasped.

Minutes later it was sent airborne.

"All right, send her up," the lead contractor said.

For a few unforgetable moments, Hornsby's temporary home hovered over Howard Avenue.

"I didn't know it would go that high once they brought it up under the wires," she said.

Biloxi Police blocked a parade of cars so contractors could steer the modular structure into place.

Claire Sekul Hornsby was a very interested bystander. She first lived on the Howard Avenue property in 1940. In 1979, she gave it to Linda and her family. Having them move back to Howard Avenue, even in a temporary home "is the most exciting day of my life," she said. "It's unbelievable."

The scene made Claire Sekul Hornsby's daughter-in-law understand how important home sweet home really is.

"Oh my gosh. I never realized it before," Linda Hornsby said. "I don't think I appreciated it before. We just took it for granted. But we realize it now, along with a few thousand other people."

From January 9-21, a modular home show will be held in Pass Christian. The first five days of the show are for governmental leaders, so they can learn more about modular home construction. Starting January 14, the public will be allowed to tour the modular homes on display.

By Brad Kessie