Santa Clara River Flood, 2005, St George, UT 84770

Gary & Sherrie Gray (This is the home breaking apart on our home page)
Riverwood, St. George, UT

Interview with Sherrie Gray

We've been married 25 years, and we've lived in that house for 13 years. Ernie Webb knocked on our door at 4:30 am. He said, "the river's in your yard," and we couldn't believe it. Gary went with Ernie and they filled the sandbags and brought back one truckload. It wasn't near enough. We woke up my son and he helped. the neighbors came over, and we had people well into their seventies trying to sandbag. We got the house totally sandbagged, so we felt safe. Then the water came right up to the house.

T & M Construction came and pushed all kinds of dirt over to protect the house so that the water couldn't come past that and ever hit the sandbags. They worked for four hours, moving dirt for us to keep the river from coming. Tuesday morning I went to work and Gary stayed home to watch the house. At about 10:30 am he .called me and said, "we're in trouble. Ernies' trees are falling down. The water's undercutting everything. You need to get here." I went to my manager, Don Lyman, at Jones Paint and Glass.

I ran out the door and half of the Jones Paint and Glass company followed. Some of them beat me to the house. Then we watched. We stood there in disbelief as tree after tree fell into the river. I could see the water getting in the house, so we moved everything from downstairs. They all helped haul everything we could upstairs. There was a beautiful entertainment center. There were boxes in the storage room that I thought were ours from 10 years agao that we hadn't even looked at, so I told them not to worry about them.
I regret that now because they were all my daughter's things. She had moved back in with us, and those were all her dishes and personal items, and I didn't know.

They continued to dig routes for the water to go back into the river. We didn't think our house was going, but tree after tree kept going down the river. We didn't stay and watch. I was still in denial. I could not fathom that my house was going. We have a friend - God love him - who suffered a stroke. He only has one good arm and he started hauling stuff out one-handed. I'm like, "John, it's going to be okay." And he said, "Sherrie, if it's okay, then we'll move the stuff back in. Get what matters to you out now!" Had it not been for John, I would have lost everything. And as it is, we lost a lot of things that I can never replace.

Don Lyman sent one of the guys to get a covered trailer, and we filled that. I mean, things weren't boxed or anything. They were just packing things out the best they could. I was in my bedroom trying to pack a suitcase so we would have clothes, and it had gone so fast and the water had undercut so much. They made me leave. So we didn't get clothes. I got an overnight bag with my mascara in it and our deodorant.

Everything we had done for 13 years was so we could live in that house. We had finally gotten it to where we could afford it, finally after all those years of working and struggling. We just worked our whole lives for that house. It was home. Everyone called us "The Gray Motel." We took in the homeless, I mean, and now we are.

My son had an old pistol that belonged to, and had the signature of his great, great, great-grandfather, Ulysses S. Grant. I had black pearl earrings that were my mom's, her diamond earrings, her china, and my grandmas' glasses, things that we cannot replace --all these were lost.

Mom passed away two months ago, and the first thing I bought with the money that came to me was a washer and dryer that matched. Washer and dryer sounds corny, but I married Mr. Fix-it. We had a mis-matched set that he fixed over and over. This was the first time in 25 years of marriage we had a matched set, and they wouldn't let me get them. And now, looking at the flood and where it undercut the house, I see why. But at the time, it felt safe and secure and I was just angry. They threatened to arrest me if I went back in.

The way we're surviving, to tell you the truth, is every morning we talk about our blessings, and the people that love us and care. We are so thankful to work for Jones Paint and Glass because of how much they care and how much support they have given us. We've been there almost ten years, both of us, and they are just amazing people.

There is not little piece of anything there to show that we ever existed in that house. We try to give, and we help people. We're not the people who need help, and now we're homeless, and we realize it's a lot easier to give than to receive. Every little thing that people bring to us and give to us just touches out hearts and lets us know how blessed we are.