Hurricane Katrina victim gets new lease of life thanks to Christmas party

September 1, 2010

A woman whose New Orleans home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina has been given a new shot at life and love, all thanks to a Christmas party.

Jennifer Morris Johnson's childhood home in the New Orleans neighborhood of Gentilly suffered immense damage from the flooding after the hurricane. The house was filled to the roof with water and her parents were forced to move out. Ms Johnson's grandparents on both sides of her family and most of their parents had lived in New Orleans, and the hurricane brought an end to the long family history.

But Johnson knows something beautiful can come from something heartbreaking. She was forced to leave New Orleans during the hurricane and went to stay with her sister in Alexandria to ride out the storm. After it passed, she assumed she would go back home to her neighbourhood and the dream job she started two weeks prior to the storm as a school counsellor.

But, by December, Johnson's job had been terminated, and she was still living in Alexandria when her sister invited her to a Christmas party. It was there that she met 9th Judicial District Judge Donald Johnson, and they fell in love and later married.

Johnson said, “If the storm hadn't happened, we never would have met. I now have a wonderful husband and two amazing stepkids. This is my second chance.”