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Couple still sharing home sweet trailer

Vici Papajohn/Gulf Breeze News Arlene and Frank Sadro and cat Simon greet visitors in their FEMA trailer, above, despite cramped conditions. When Arlene and Frank Sadro returned to their home after Hurricane Ivan, they thought they were some of the lucky ones. The yard and house appeared undamaged, and they breathed a sigh of relief. But appearances can be deceptive, and the Sadros soon discovered that their roof had been completely removed by a tornado, huge pieces scattered in neighbors’ yards. Their home in the center of Gulf Breeze Proper was destroyed.

Arlene, 72, and Frank, 77, remained optimistic. “We were quite lost,” Frank explains, “but we knew we had purchased insurance and could rebuild.”

Vici Papajohn/ Gulf Breeze News Sadro enjoys her garden beside the destroyed home. The Sadros built a retirement suite, as Arlene calls it, on the back of their home. Frank had experienced some bad health, and they dedicated time and money renovating their home to enjoy their retirement years in comfort. On a fixed income, the Sadros loved spending time in their beautifully landscaped yard, enjoying the huge deck area off the back of the family room.

“Life was good,” Arlene says with a smile. She strolls the welcoming back yard, pinching a vine just so over the fence. If tattered blue strips of tarp didn’t trail over the roof’s edge, one could almost believe all was still well. Arlene continues to spend hours in her yard, keeping it lovely in true British spirit.

Arlene, long the smooth voice of local radio and T.V., is known for her perky positivity. After salvaging as much as she could from her home of over 30 years, she accepted her daughter-in law’s parents’ generous offer to use their new RV.

“We decided to make the most of a very tiny situation,” she remembers with a sparkle in her eye. “And there were several very funny moments as we learned to navigate RV living.”

Sadro recounts that once the RV was set up, her son Frank, Jr., also pulled out the jealousy shade, creating

” a wonderful little sitting area beside the RV.

“Early the next morning, a ferocious wind kicked up,” Sadro remembers. “We ran outside, I was wearing a house coat and Frank only a pair of shorts he’d pulled on.”

Receiving phone directions from their son, Arlene gripped her corner as Frank struggled with his corner in the fierce winds. “The canopy shot up and I didn’t know whether to hang on or to let go and pick up my pants,” Frank recalls. “My shorts were down around my ankles.”

“He mooned the whole neighborhood,” Arlene laughs. “We nearly died laughing. I don’t know how we ever got that awning put away.”

After moving to a FEMA trailer, a fall in the extremely tight bathroom space was not so funny. Frank suffered extensive damage to his shoulder, and landed in rehab after surgery. “He couldn’t get in and around the trailer safely,” Arlene explains, “so he couldn’t come home. We really started to wilt then.”

After calling FEMA, the couple received a new trailer, one designed to be handicap-accessible, and Frank finally returned home.

One year after Ivan, the Sadros continue to choose to think positively. “We are going to look at plans tomorrow at our son’s house,” Arlene beams. “And we hope to rebuild. We had a terrible time with Citizens, our insurance company, but they finally settled our claim.”

“One day Arlene said ‘I feel like I’m living in a box!’” Frank quietly remembers. “And I said, ‘You are living in a box.’ Our kids had offered to put us up at their places, but we decided we’d stay right here. It’s a box, but it’s our box.”

“We’d rather sit right here together in our little trailer on this little couch and be together. We have celebrated birthdays and our 52nd anniversary in this trailer.”

The Sadros play bridge and invite friends to dinner, continuing their lives. One thing Frank notes as greatly changed is the his long-time group of friends in his breakfast club, the Bull Sitters.

The club originated in the early 70s at the Granny’s Donut Shop, and moved to Hardee’s when Granny’s closed.

“I called the original group ‘The Hardee’s Boys’,” Arlene remembers. There have been about 10 to 15 members over the years.”

Many of the Bull Sitters suffered extensive damage to coastal homes, and the group had to relocate to McDonald’s for a couple of days until Burger King reopened.

“We are back at Burger King now,” Frank says, “But at least six or seven of our members now plan to leave the area. We were all here to retire.”