Harmonizing at Hospitality House

#446 / Flood Time Capsule: 2007

It was cold outside, but hot inside the downtown Huntington Plaza Hotel as The Flood played for a dinner party celebrating and fund-raising for The Hospitality House.

The facility, located at 2801 S. Staunton Rd, was set up as is a non-profit organization to provide temporary lodging for patient families and outpatients from 50 miles outside of the Huntington hospital area so they could have affordable housing, bathing, laundry, kitchen and telephone facilities.

A guest of honor that night was Dr. Jeff George, who along with Lillian Dick and other concerned Huntington residents had pushed for the facility, which was established in February 2000.

George was moving to Roanoke, Va., in the next few weeks, as writer Dave Lavender noted in The Herald-Disparch, and he was “leaving his good name behind.”

The board announced that evening that the house would renamed “The Jeffrey E. George Comfort House” to recognize the doctor’s role in its founding.

Losing Dr. George

The following year, Huntington was rocked by the news that 49-year-old George and his teen-aged daughter Hannah were killed in an accident on Interstate 81 in Roanoke.

The pair were traveling north on I-81 in Botetourt County, Va., Virginia State Police said. The crash happened on northbound I-81 between Buchanan and Natural Bridge, according to 1st Sgt. John Noel.

George and his daughter were in a 2004 Chevrolet Suburban when it hit a left guardrail twice and then landed on its side in the median, Noel said. The vehicle was in flames when firefighters and police responded, Noel said.

State police may never know what caused George to veer off the road and into the guardrail, said Trooper J.K. Jessee. His investigation has determined that George was not speeding.

Several witnesses tried to help the Georges get out of the vehicle, but the fire was too intense, Jessee said. The medical examiner's office has not determined their cause of death, he said. The two were wearing seatbelts.

Back to a Happier Night

That tragedy was 20 months in the future. Happier scenes are remembered in the Flood scrapbook.

Scenes like Dr. George addressing the celebrants. "Next to my church there is no charity that means more to me," George told the audience. "I was just tired of seeing patients' families laying in the hallways and in the lobby. I thought this was the most wonderful idea I had ever heard of."

Scenes like The Flood’s Michelle Hoge getting a special singing partner. The band was invited to the do by an old friend, the late Tom Miller, whom the Bowens and the Peytons had worked with at the Huntington Publishing Co. That evening, Michelle even persuaded Tom to get on stage and sing with her.

Scenes like what watching friends singing along and dancing to nearly five hours of hot music. A particularly warm memory is watching Eddie and Betty Barrett cutting a rug in front of the bandstand.

Warm memories from a cold February Friday night.