Published: 11/27/2006
Day 4: Picking up the pieces: Six families return home
By Amanda McGregor and Bruno Matarazzo Jr.Staff writers
DANVERS - When Kathy Parker was finally able to move back into her home on Riverside Street yesterday, she paused a moment to take it all in.
"I just sat there and looked around, actually," she said.
The contemporary-style house at 42 Riverside St. didn't suffer structural damage, but the plaster is cracked, the closets are a mess, and all the windows will need to be replaced.
Parker opened a kitchen cabinet without thinking how everything had shifted, and dishware tumbled out and shattered.
"We're in pretty good shape," she said. "It's mostly cosmetic stuff that can be fixed."
Parker, her husband, Darryl, and their three daughters were among six families that moved home yesterday to Riverside and Bates streets after the building inspector gave them the green light.
Dozens of families are still displaced after an explosion rocked Danversport early Wednesday morning at 126 Water St., a building that housed two companies that manufactured ink, adhesives and coatings.
When Darryl Parker first got home yesterday, he hung his American flag outside.
"I just felt like it was the right thing to do," he said.
Later, he sat down to watch the football game on TV.
For Kathy Parker, the fright of the explosion still lingered.
"It feels good (to be home), but I'm a little apprehensive," she said.
The Parkers - including daughters Shannon, a college student; Kristin, a sophomore at Danvers High; and Janelle, a seventh-grader at the Holten Richmond Middle School - have been staying at Kathy's mother's house on School Street.
"I'll keep a light on tonight," she said. "And maybe the TV. I think that will be helpful for me."
In celebration of yesterday's milestone, the Parkers threw an impromptu party for the neighborhood on their front lawn, dragged out tables and chairs and ordered enough Chinese food from Eighty Eight Restaurant to feed a small army. As many as 60 neighbors joined in, many of them still homeless.
"Half of them don't have electricity and had to empty their refrigerators into Dumpsters," said Darryl Parker, who owns Cherry Street Fish Market. "Just knowing that, I thought it was a good thing to (feed everyone)."
The five other households able to move back yesterday were Glenn and Catherine Rhuda of 33 Bates St.; Susan Tropeano and John Lovatt of 4 Bates St. Court; Michael and Elizabeth Listro of 34 Riverside St., Lisa Berman of 35 Bates St.; and Edward and Diann Sanborn of 46 Riverside St.
