“While some stories remain iconic and well-known, such as the heroic acts of the 10 Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word who bravely tried to save the 90 children residing at St. Mary’s Orphanage, which was directly on the beach but ultimately died, the voices and stories of others have been lost to time and history.
The Dominican Sisters, who lived at the Sacred Heart Convent located at the intersection of Market and 16th Streets, some seven blocks away from St. Mary’s Cathedral on Moody Avenue, were one of several Catholic places that quickly became refuge points for Galvestonians that day.
Among the refugees was a 13-year-old named Helen Bellew, who would later become a Dominican Sister herself, taking the name Sister M. Berchmans Bellew, O.P. In a testimony written years later, Helen described the arrival of the storm while she and her family stayed at their family home, which had survived other minor storms prior.
By late afternoon, their home was the only one left standing, though many windows were shattered and the gallery had separated entirely. Her father helped her, her brother Peter and their mother out of the house to a safe place among the floating debris as her mother tried to protect them from flying slates. Sustained winds of 85 mph and 100 mph wind gusts sent anything and everything flying, including the wind gauges themselves. Today, meteorologists estimate winds actually reached 120 to 140 mph that day.”
Read more in the #TexasCatholicHerald article, “Voices from the Great Storm: 125 years since the Storm of 1900 that changed Texas forever” at https://archgh.org/news/voices-from-the-great-storm-125-years-since-the-storm-of-1900-that-changed-texas-forever
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