Diane Cooley, Cindy Boone, and Otto & Alane Haardt view artifacts from the Book Club’s mock “Great 1900 Storm Museum”.

POC’s Book Club, “Hooked On Books”, held their monthly meeting on September 14, 2021, and it centered around the Club’s September book, Isaac’s Storm, by Erik Larson, about the “Great 1900 Storm of Galveston”. As members arrived, they were each given “passports”, which took them back in time to September 8, 1900, the day the Great Storm hit Galveston, killing over 8,000 people, and destroying 80% of the island city. Hostesses: Diane Cooley, Cindy Boone, Connie Hall, and Alane Haardt set up a mock “Great 1900 Storm Museum”, displaying original one hundred and twenty one year old newspaper and magazine articles, photos, and artifacts owned by Otto Haardt’s Great-Grandparents, who survived the Great Storm in the attic of their Galveston home, along with their three small children and thirty neighbors. Several other members shared their families’ harrowing accounts of their experiences with the Storm as well. Attendees “toured” the “museum”, and then were served refreshments, before settling in to discuss excerpts and characters from the book; the events preempting the Storm; the opportunities that were missed to prevent or lessen the cataclysmic effects of the Storm; and what the brave and resilient survivors did in the aftermath to prevent such a catastrophic event in the future. Everyone agreed that it was a very well written book, and that it was a great account of the worst natural disaster in American History!! The visiting, stimulating conversation, and delicious refreshments were enjoyed by all!!!

The next Book Club meeting will be held at 2:00 PM on Tuesday, October 12, 2021, and the Book of the Month is Almost Gone by .John Baldwin and MacKenzie Baldwin.

If you would like to join “Hooked On Books”, please email your information to alanehaardt@yahoo.com. All are welcome!!

-Alane Haardt