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By Bridget Mire Staff Writer Read entire article at DailyComet.com In 2000, Mike Callais’ father died while scuba diving in the Gulf of Mexico. Eight years later, his brother was thrown overboard when a wave hit the boat he was on during a diving trip in the Gulf. His father’s body was recovered, but not his brother’s. “It’s hard to get closure,” Callais said. Soon, Callais and others who have lost loved ones to the sea will be able to visit the Our Lady of the Gulf Monument next to Port Fourchon’s Emergency Command Center. The Greater Lafourche Port Commission, for which Callais is an interim board member, donated the land. Cindie Roussel connected with families of some who died in the April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon oil spill to build the memorial. Roussel lost her 27-year-old son, Blake Terry, to the Gulf of Mexico in a diving incident. He went missing Aug. 13, 2011, and his body was never recovered. “There’s truly an emptiness, and it’s even harder when you don’t have anything to be able to grasp,” Roussel said. “You have the loss, but you have a double loss.” A groundbreaking ceremony for the memorial took place today, and the unveiling is expected to be in October. “We all agreed that this is the right place,” said Davie Breaux, deputy port director. “That oil rig (involved in the spill) was actually serviced out of Fourchon, so they were used to going in and out of here. This is where they left to go to work. We think it kind of fits.” Robert Epstein, who owns the Colorado-based Highstone Studio, designed the monument. Picciola and Associates in Cut Off and Ray Baudoin Builders in Raceland are also involved with the project. A mermaid will be ascending from the water, bathed in air bubbles and sunlight, and her cloak will include diving fins, an oil rig and sea life. The monument will have a bronze finish and stand about 16 feet tall from its platform. Bricks are being sold at ladyofthegulf.org for the base of the monument. People can donate bricks in support of the Our Lady of the Gulf Foundation or in memory of someone who worked on or simply enjoyed the water. The bricks are $150 for one that’s 4-by-8 inches and $300 for one that’s 8-by-8 inches. People can also request memorial plates for loved ones lost at sea by filling out a form on the website. Roussel said the memorial will represent people whose livelihood is the Gulf. “We have accidents and we lose loved ones, but we’re still drawn to come back here,” she said. “We still want to be by the Gulf. That’s never going to change. We’re still drawn to the water.” -- Staff Writer Bridget Mire can be reached at 448-7639 or bridget.mire@dailycomet.com. Follow her on Twitter @bridget_mire.
For Cindie Roussel, a six-year journey to memorialize her son is approaching completion. She lost 27-year-old Blake Terry, of Lockport, to the Gulf of Mexico in a diving incident. He went missing Aug. 13, 2011, and his body was never recovered. Roussel connected with families of some who died in the April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon oil spill to build the Lady of the Gulf Monument to be located next to Port Fourchon’s Emergency Command Center. The Greater Lafourche Port Commission donated the land. The memorial is supposed to be installed in September, and a dedication ceremony will be held in the fall, possibly October. Robert Epstein, who owns the Colorado-based Highstone Studio, designed the monument. A mermaid will be ascending from the water, bathed in air bubbles and sunlight, and her cloak will include diving fins, an oil rig and sea life. It will have a bronze finish and stand about 16 feet tall from its platform. “To see her come to life, to see the actual site plan and to know that this is really happening is just amazing to me,” Roussel said. “All the hard work that the Blake Terry Memorial Foundation has done, all the sponsors who have worked so hard in helping us get her built is remarkable. I’m very, very excited to be a part of it, and I can’t wait to see her standing there for everyone. She’s so much a part of my heart. It’s been personal from day one.” Bricks are being sold at ladyofthegulf.org for the base of the monument. People can donate bricks in support of Lady of the Gulf Foundation or in memory of someone who worked on or simply enjoyed the water. The bricks are $150 for one that’s 4-by-8 inches and $300 for one that’s 8-by-8 inches. Those purchased by July 1 will be part of the site setup. After that, new bricks will be placed only during memorial events. People can also request memorial plates for loved ones lost at sea by filling out a form on the website. Roussel said the goal is to sell 350 bricks to cover the base. She said she hopes the sale will generate enough money to cover the memorial plates. Picciola and Associates in Cut Off has been working with Epstein and Ray Baudoin Builders in Raceland to develop a base and site plan for the monument. Joe Picciola said the monument is a “feel-good” project. “Cindie’s certainly taking the lead on it, and she’s doing something I think’s going to help the whole community,” he said. “The sculpture’s really beautiful. (Epstein’s) done a tremendous job.” Baudoin, the project manager, said some of the challenges are raising the statue to its base without damaging it and making sure the monument can withstand strong winds. He said his daughter and Terry were “like brother and sister.” “I do a lot of offshore fishing, and Blake just loved, loved boats,” he said. “He would fish with me. He would take care of a lot of things on my boat for me. He was always around.” Epstein said he hopes the monument captures a spirit of grace and reflection. “There’s a quiet, receptive feeling, so being in the studio with that is not a bad thing,” he said. He said his studio often focuses on “water, women and wonder,” so a mermaid was an obvious choice. “For me, it was, ’How do I make that something fresh and authentic?’” he said. “It was how to tell the story. There’s so many people that make their living from the Gulf of Mexico, that enjoy the Gulf of Mexico, that work and play and live on the Gulf of Mexico. How do you incorporate that in a way that’s going to resonate with people? ... I hope people enjoy it and find some solace from it. It’s been my honor to work on it.” Originally Posted at: www.houmatoday.com -- Staff Writer Bridget Mire can be reached at 448-7639 or bridget.mire@dailycomet.com.
By Bridget Mire Staff Writer Read entire article at HoumaToday.com After she lost her 27-year-old son to the Gulf of Mexico in a diving incident, Cindie Roussel wanted a proper way to remember him. Blake Terry, of Lockport, went missing Aug. 13, 2011. His body was never recovered. “I lost Blake and I had nothing,” Roussel said. “I just couldn’t bring myself to build a tombstone or an empty tomb with a gravesite to have a memorial of him. ... I wanted something of beauty to represent the beauty of the Gulf. An anchor, I didn’t see beauty in that. Although we lost our children in the Gulf, or a brother or a husband, it’s still beautiful.” So she connected with families of some lost in the April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon oil spill to build a monument to be located next to Port Fourchon’s Emergency Command Center. The Greater Lafourche Port Commission donated the land, and the memorial is expected to be completed in the fall. A 5K and crawfish cookoff is set for March 11 to raise money for the Our Lady of the Gulf monument. For more information, visit btmemorialfoundation.com. The mermaid, designed by Robert Epstein, will be ascending from the water, bathed in air bubbles and sunlight, and her cloak will include diving fins, an oil rig and sea life. She will have a bronze finish and stand about 15 to 16 feet tall between her height and a platform, which will include information on the monument’s history, sponsors and those it honors. Roussel said her son was outgoing and fun-loving with a huge heart. He always wanted to be part of something bigger than himself, and he quit college for a while to help Gulf Coast residents rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. “He lived here on earth as though he was on vacation and was riding through,” Roussel said. “Blake loved the water, and he loved the Gulf. He always said this was God’s country and he said, ‘Why would anyone want to go anywhere else?’” Roussel said four lost diver missions have been conducted through the Blake Terry Memorial Foundation and two resulted in recoveries. Diana Evans, who lost her 22-year-old brother, Shane Roshto, of Liberty, Miss., to the 2010 spill could not be reached for comment for this story. Arleen Weise lost her 24-year-old son, Adam Weise, of Yorktown, Texas. She said he was a hard worker but also had a great sense of humor and loved to play jokes on people. “At the golf course, they’d hide in the bushes and blow the air horn when people would get up,” she said with a chuckle. “One of them chased them.” Weise said the monument will serve as a “living memory” of her son and others lost at sea. Missy Jones lost her 28-year-old son, Gordon Jones, of Baton Rouge. She will be going to Denver with Roussel next month to see the work in progress. Jones said there were crosses on Grand Isle after the oil spill and a tree at LSU was dedicated to her son, who attended the university. The monument, however, will be a more permanent memorial, she said. You don’t have a body, and it’s just that closure that you aren’t able to experience with burying someone,” she said. “It’ll give us a place to be able to go to and remember. This will be a really concrete thing and be a beautiful tribute to those who have died. ... Losing a child, to me, is the worst kind of grief you can go through. Every day of your life, you feel that loss and you’ve got to choose to move forward.” Jones said her son worked as a mud engineer for what is now Schlumberger and wanted to learn the business so he could move into sales. He was a fun-loving, easygoing guy who made friends with everyone and loved LSU and golfing, she said. Chris Moran of Moran’s Marina helped with the planning of the memorial. He said he knew Terry and Roshto. Terry was a happy, charismatic man, and Roshto was “a great little country kid,” Moran said. The memorial represents the impact all the victims had on people’s lives, he said. “(Roussel) was an unbelievable mother to Blake and to all of us who knew him,” Moran said. “She’s worked so hard to make sure that Blake’s memory will never be forgotten, and I’m really proud of her. She’s an angel on this earth.” Port Director Chett Chaisson said he didn’t know the victims personally but hopes the monument gives their families closure and a place to remember them. Roussel believes fate brought her and the other families together. “As a mother, you never want to be in this position of losing a child,” she said. “But you are able to be with other mothers who experienced this loss, and you’ve all come out of this and survived it and you have a story to tell. The paths that you cross are meant for you to cross. They’re not by accident. They’re all part of a plan. We all have a purpose, and sometimes going through something like this you find your purpose.” -- Staff Writer Bridget Mire can be reached at 448-7639 or bridget.mire@dailycomet.com. Follow her on Twitter @bridget_mire.