Michael Davenport, president/CEO of the $12.7 million Integris FCU, was scheduled to reunite Oct. 20 with a young woman he plucked from flood waters 10 years ago in the wake of Hurricane Rita.

In addition to serving the Tulsa, Okla.-based cooperative, Davenport also worked as a reserve deputy sheriff. It was in that capacity Integris' board of directors voted unanimously to authorize him leave so he could deploy with other law enforcement to South Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina came ashore in 2005.

However, when that deployment put Davenport and fellow law enforcement officers squarely in the path of Hurricane Rita on Sept. 24, 2005, the mission changed from stabilizing chaotic communities after Katrina to providing front line assistance to Rita victims.

“I remember waking up to the organizers telling us that we were going to have a new mission, but that they couldn't send us just then,” Davenport said, adding that he came for Katrina, but stayed for Rita.

“The wind howled around this place where we stayed and it shuddered,” Davenport said, “and the rain beat down in sheets and it was pretty clear we couldn't go out just then. But as soon as the weather let up enough we said, 'let's go find some people' and headed out.”

Davenport recalled the girl – whom he later learned was named Hanna – and her family had been stranded by the flood without food or water for hours. Davenport and his fellow officers had a flat bottomed, local fishing boat and were able to get the family to safety, albeit with some difficulty.

Hannah would have been five at the time and she was scared,” Davenport explained. “So I started calling her darling and my girlfriend to get her to jump to us. You know, 'come one darling, you can do it' and 'c'mon on, girlfriend,' and when she finally jumped to me, we pretty much bonded.”

Hannah and her family were generally unhurt. However, Hannah's aunt received a gash on her leg and Davenport said the team found it difficult to find something clean and dry they could use to bandage it.

Five-year-old Hanna waves at the camera during her rescue.

“In the end, the only thing we could find clean and dry was one of those diapers,” Davenport said, “so that's what we used, that diaper.”

Davenport said he and his wife, Maria, had always wondered what happened to Hannah and her family after he returned home to Tulsa. After almost a decade, he decided to find out.

“I called down to the sheriff's office closest to where she had been living,” Davenport said. “But they really weren't that interested in helping me. Then I thought to call the school systems down there. Well, I got a really nice lady who said that she wasn't sure she could help me, but was willing to try.”

Davenport shared a photo of him holding Hannah to help the school administrator identify the girl, but said he wasn't sure it would pay off. However, the school assistant called him back soon after with good news. She had found a student named Hannah in the school system and showed the photo to the 15-year-old.

“She called Hannah into the office and showed her the picture and asked her if she recognized it,” Davenport said. “Hannah said right off, 'yes, that's me,'” Davenport explained.

Once the school system got involved, the reunion began to grow, Davenport explained. The school system joined forces with parishes (counties) in area and some municipalities to invite the credit union CEO and his wife to reunite with Hannah and her family, and also tour how the communities had recovered since the storms.

Davenport also explained he wanted to look up Hannah in order to draw attention to a story that, he said, was so much better than other stories about Katrina and Rita.

“If you wanted stories about system failure and chaos and people pointing guns at us and generally acting less than civilized, we had lots of those stories.” Davenport said. “But this story, the last one from when we were down there, how some people were able to get rescued … we wanted this one to be the story that got remembered,” he added.

Instant Insights /

CEO, Rita Victim Reunite

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