Answers come too late for Ike worker's daughter

Answers come too late for Ike worker's daughter
Clear Lake woman uses Web to track down adult child of man killed while saving dogs from freeway
By DANE SCHILLER
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Oct. 7, 2008, 10:29PM

The e-mail from a stranger in Clear Lake was to the point, and an improbable end to a Pittsburgh woman's 13 years of searching for the father she hadn't spoken to since she was a kid.

"Is your father's name Robert Emery? The whole city of Houston is looking for any relatives," read the message.

Alaina Emery was startled as she stared at a computer screen while in the library at paralegal school.

Trembling and swept with emotion, she misunderstood the reason for the question.

"Why is the entire city of Houston looking for him?" she typed back.

The exchange would quickly lead to Alaina, now 25, realizing her long-lost father was Robert "Bob" Emery, the mysterious Hurricane Ike relief worker killed the night of Sept. 27 as he dashed onto the East Freeway to rescue three dogs stranded in the emergency lane hugging the median.

The men who worked with him clearing storm debris and traveled with him from the Florida Keys described him as a big-hearted jack-of-all trades, but knew nothing of his past.

The Harris County Medical Examiner's Office was also having a tough time finding relatives, and Emery was to be buried as a pauper if no one claimed his body.

In so many ways, the 54-year-old Emery's loner life was playing out like lyrics for the blues songs he loved so much. He'd even recently been kicked out of a rundown trailer.

But his death rallied animal lovers in Houston and elsewhere, who fell in love with the man they never met.

They vowed to ensure he receive a proper burial, and that his attempt to save the dogs would not be forgotten.

"Girl, he died a hero with tons of people loving him," Kellye Nagata eventually wrote to Alaina Emery, whom she tracked down on the Internet.

HOW TO HELP
If you are interested in donating for a funeral or memorial for Robert "Bob" Emery, the Houston non-profit organization, No Paws Left Behind, is creating a fund on his behalf:
No Paws Left Behind16225 Park Ten Place, Suite 105Houston, Texas 77084
Donations also can be made on the Web at nopawsleftbehind.org.
For questions, contact Cheryl Lang at: mailto:cheryl@nopawsleftbehind.org
Lang asks that any checks or online payments include the notation "For Bob Emery.''

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