Although another Hurricane Katrina has come and gone, the Friendship Oak at the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Park campus still stands tall as a living symbol of strength and endurance.
On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall near the Mississippi-Louisiana border as a Category 3 storm, destroying communities, homes and claiming more than 1,800 lives. The Gulf Park campus suffered more than $100 million in damages, yet the 500-year-old Friendship Oak survived without major harm.
“Among the most devastation I’ve ever seen in my life was the resiliency of community members coming together to help one another,” said Chistopher Wade, a Gulf Coast local. “Even from people from all over and outside of the Gulf Coast were willing to help rebuild our beautiful Gulf Coast, it was the greatest act of unselfishness, sacrifice, kindness and pure willingness to help.”
The storm uprooted trees, flooded academic buildings and displaced hundreds of students and faculty. But the Friendship Oak, which has shaded the Gulf Coast since the 1400s, remained rooted amid the destruction.
For the community, the tree became a gathering point during the long recovery. In the years following Katrina, friends and families would gather under the oak tree, attempting to move on from the pain the storm left behind.
“Seeing the Friendship Oak for the first time after Katrina was a beacon of hope,” said Ellen Norris, a local resident living near the Gulf Park campus at the time of the storm. “The oak tree with it’s deep reaching roots was like seeing our community reaching out to one another beyond measure.”
Katrina forced the university to close the Gulf Park campus for several months. When it reopened, the campus featured updated architecture and a renewed commitment to student education. In 2012, USM rededicated the campus with the reopening of Hardy Hall and other key facilities.
The Friendship Oak remains central to campus life, orientation events and community involvement. Locals say anyone who stands beneath its long branches will remain friends for life, a message that resonates more than ever.
To mark the recent Hurricane Katrina anniversary, the Gulf Coast community hosted a week of events, including a remembrance ceremony and a breakfast for community members who lost loved ones, keeping their memory alive and sharing stories.
