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'Going to Take Years -- Years'
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"I wanted to get in here and see what I could save before they bulldoze the whole area," Carver said. "You wouldn't believe the beautiful things I found under the bricks."
She discovered a black porcelain jar and a few pieces of china that had not broken.
What she really wanted to find were things that belonged to her son, who she said died from AIDS in 1995.
"I'm still looking," she said.
Down the road a bit, Yvonne Smith, 65, and her husband Frank, 69, returned to where their house stood to find its green roof scattered across the neighborhood, along with the house's walls and contents. The white, wrap-around porch was nowhere to be seen.
They came by with their daughter Michelle Cuellar to try to salvage anything they could. They were looking particularly for a silver lockbox that held their passports, because they are supposed to take a cruise in October for Frank's sister's 50th wedding anniversary.
Cuellar, wearing heavy utility gloves and a protective mask, found one bowl from a china set her mother received when she married in 1962. "We didn't expect to find anything," Cuellar said. "But we're finding all kinds of treasures."
Then she gestured to her mother: "Look, Mom, here's another one of your knives."
Yvonne Smith found more serving utensils and became exasperated. "Why did all my spoons from the dollar store survive?" she asked.
Then, across the street, the Smiths happened upon their green metal filing cabinet. It was twisted and a bit mangled, but with a crowbar they were able to open the drawers.
There, they found personal items such as tax forms, Yvonne Smith's grade-school report card and Cuellar's commencement program from her University of Florida graduation in 1985. Everything was soaked, but the Smiths and Cuellar were thankful.
Like Carver, the Smiths were looking for items that belonged to their son, who was slain four years ago.
"His ashes were in here," Yvonne Smith said, looking at the concrete slab that marked the spot where her house once stood. "Now they are gone."
She said losing her house feels like enduring another death in the family. She was just beginning to cope with the death of her only son.
"You get better with it, then it starts all over. It's too much," Smith said. "Everyone is calling with sympathy."
