Walter and Marie Colborne's condominium on Staten Island. Photo by Mary Anne Hastings

BY MARCY SHORTUSE - Two days after Hurricane Sandy slammed into the East Coast, Mary Anne Hastings got a call that raised the hair on the back of her neck. Jeanne Mikkelson, her best friend who lives in Fort Myers, said that her parents were missing from their Staten Island home. Walter Colborne, 89 and his wife, Marie, 66, were nowhere to be found. Their car was found near their home with the keys in the ignition, still in drive. But there was no sign of Walter and Marie.

Mary Anne immediately turned to Facebook to spread the word. Having grown up on Staten Island with Jeanne and her parents, she knew the damage was extensive where the couple lived, but she had no idea just how bad it was at that time.

“Please, all of my S.I. friends,” she wrote. “Marie and Walter’s car was found abandoned ... they are still on SI somewhere.”

Mary Anne attached a photo of the couple, and prayed.

 

Mere hours later, she was packing. Jeanne and Mary Anne were going to find the elderly couple, as no word of their whereabouts had come through.

The day before the hurricane hit, Jeanne pleaded with her parents to leave their condo on the south shore of the island and to head upstate. They made the choice to stay.

“Most of the news reports showed the New Jersey shore as the hardest-hit area, so it took a while to start getting news that S.I. was so drastically affected,” Mary Anne said. “Our friends and family in the area started telling horror stories, so Jeanne had her cousins go to the condo to check. They discovered the condo empty and damaged, but the garage door was open. We assumed they left sometime after the power went out but were holed up somewhere safe.”

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