Harold Redman says he feels like if he could just get back to Lockhart, life would be better.

His white wood-frame mill village home was crushed when a huge oak tree fell on it during a storm in August 2008. Many people had damage caused by wind and fallen trees during what was deemed by the National Weather Service as a micro burst. Other residents said everybody seems to have bounced back but Redman, who had no property insurance.

He and his cat, Missy, are living on the fifth floor of Fairforest Apartments with a few belongings he was able to salvage. He is not happy and he doesn’t feel safe.

“No, I don’t like it,” he said. “But you have got to have a roof over your head.”

A few people who realize the plight of the 69-year-old widowed textile worker have pulled together to help him, including Lockhart town council member Connie Porter.

“He’s lost everything,” Mrs. Porter said. “He is depressed. He gets to where he can’t eat and ends up in the hospital — I think that has a lot to do with his depression. He’s away from everything and it has been a year. He keeps saying, ‘I will never have anything. I have lost everything.’”

Through the Elderly Transportational Cottage program of the United Methodist Church, a small transportable home has been acquired for Redman. His stepdaughter, Connie Bell, paid to have Redman’s house demolished and removed. Mrs. Porter said the lot needs to be leveled and the house transported to Union and hooked up to utilities. This will cost around $2,000.

Mrs. Porter said she has received around $300 in donations for the project. She appealed for help in her weekly Union Grapevine column and some people who are out of work offered their labor, but said at this time they had no money to give.

“We hope people will open up and help us financially,” she said.

She pointed out that Mayor Beaver Canupp, who died suddenly from a heart attack a few days after the storm, was deeply concerned about Redman’s well-being.

“This was one of Beaver’s last legacies,” she said.

Redman’s life

Redman worked in textiles before a section beam for a loom fell on him and he was disabled. His wife, Rebecca, died about 10 years ago. Her father was a former pastor of Lockhart Freewill Baptist Church.

He said his disability check was only $700 a month. There were expenses he simply could not meet and he let the insurance on his North Third Street home lapse.

He was watching TV on the night of the storm.

“I remember hearing a racket like a case of dynamite went off,” he said. “It came another big puff and here came the tree toppling over. I was in the living room; if I had been in one of the back rooms it would have killed me. It crushed them completely and did a number of the living room and kitchen.”

A neighbor has a few of his belongings stored. In his small apartment, Redman has only appliances, his red recliner, a single bed, TV and VCR. He enjoys watching old movies, but many of his movies got wet and were damaged in the storm.

“I wouldn’t have my TV if I hadn’t put a big leaf bag on it before the big rain came,” he said.

Three months ago, Redman began experiencing heart problems and had to have a pacemaker installed. He also has diabetes and stomach problems.

Saturday, during the 90-degree heat, he got into his 1987 Hyundai, which has no air conditioning, and decided he just wanted to see Lockhart. When he got back to his apartment he was hot and exhausted.

“I feel lousy,” he said. “I feel like everything has come down on me.”

Redman said he appreciates what people are doing for him.

“Connie has been good to me,” he said. “She has done all she could, but it has been tough.”

Efforts to help

Merritt Wentz, lay pastor at Lockhart/Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church charge, said Gonzalee Childers mentioned Redman’s plight during a Wednesday night prayer service.

“He held up a concern that Mr. Redman had simply been forgotten about and that as Christians, we should do something to help him,” Wentz said. “That comment led to a small meeting of Connie Porter, Gonzalee, Rev. Ben Hill and myself. We all began to work on the problem to see what could be done.”

Wentz learned of the ET Cottage program started by the United Methodist Church Relief Center after Hurricane Hugo.

‘It’s a program that takes old mobile home frames and builds a small transportable home on top of them,” he said. “It just so happened that St. Paul United Methodist Church in Spartanburg had one that was not being used. It took several months, but we qualified Mr. Redman for the home.”

With the old house demolished and removed, major hurdles have been cleared, Wentz said.

“We need the money to have the cottage moved and set up,” Wentz said. “We estimate we need at least $2,000 to get it done. We hope the good-hearted people of Union County will open up and help us finish Beaver’s last project and more importantly, a show of community Christian love. We want it to be all about the hands and feet of Jesus as a witness of God’s love for all. Let’s not forget about this man.”

(Tax deductible donations to help Redman may be mailed to Lockhart United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 127, Lockhart, 29364. Checks should be earmarked “Harold Redman Fund,” so a receipt can be sent for tax purposes.