For many who witnessed Hurricane Katrina from the comfort of their living rooms while watching the tragic events unfold on television, it was the unimaginable. For many residents of the area who lived through it, it was a nightmare. And for countless others, the flooding that took place in the Gulf Coast region marked the end of their lives.Alberto Rocha who, at 87, lost his life in his New Orleans home during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
It was a somewhat ironic end for Rocha, who served on a submarine during World War II. The sub was torpedoed, and Rocha rescued at least a dozen of his fellow mariners, yet no one was there for him when he was left, presumably to drown in the flood waters of New Orleans.
Born in São Paolo, Brazil in 1918, Rocha was one of 21 siblings (each one beginning with the letter “A.”) He joined the union in 1943 in the port of New York and later moved to New Orleans, where he lived with his wife, Maria. He sailed in the deck and engine departments, retiring from the union in 1973. He last sailed as an FOWT aboard Waterman Steamship Corp’s John Penn.
Much of the information about Rocha in this article was given to the Seafarers LOG by Julia Ewens, a good friend who, with her husband, Ralph Ewens (a former NMU bosun), befriended Rocha and considered him their adopted grandfather for the past 21 years.
Ralph and his first wife were neighbors of the Rochas in New Orleans’ 9th ward. When Ralph’s wife died suddenly at 41 years of age, he became quite distraught, and Alberto and Maria Rocha were very kind to him and helped him through this difficult time.
When Julia married Ralph in 1985, she, too, got to know the Rochas well and helped repay the kindness that they had shown her husband in his time of need. But, as Julia said to the LOG, “kindness like his can never be repaid in anything but kindness.” And so the Ewens helped the Rochas in whatever ways they could. “Alberto was very loyal,” Julia said. “His word was his bond.”
Alberto Rocha retired from the SIU in 1973. He did some maintenance work for a local hospital and helped people in the neighborhood. “He could tell some of the funniest stories of things he did as a seaman,” Julia Ewens reminisced.
Rocha’s wife later was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and Julia was always there to help take her to her doctors’ appointments and whatever else she could do to ease the pain. Maria died in 2000, and the Ewens continued to look after Rocha, making sure his accounts were in order and he had been to the grocery store. In February, Julia’s husband, Ralph, died as well, and Rocha insisted that it was too much for Julia to continue being his caretaker and that he should go to an old-age home. But Julia remained as loyal to Alberto Rocha as he had been to her, often driving 25-30 minutes from her home in eastern New Orleans to make sure all his affairs were in order.
With Hurricane Katrina forecast to hit New Orleans in late August 2005 and an evacuation called for, Julia did not hesitate to leave, as she had done in past evacuations. Rocha, however, who had lived through Hurricane Betsy in 1965, wasn’t about to leave his home. And he did survive the hurricane, which did little damage to the area. Even when the levee finally broke and water began rising in his home, he still thought he was going to be OK, he told neighbors.
Julia is still trying to adjust to the loss. She identified and claimed his body (by tattoos on his right arm and chest), and he was given a full military burial. She will mail the flag that covered his coffin to his sister Albertina in Brazil.
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