At least 29 residents of the Houston-Galveston area died as a direct or indirect result of Hurricane Ike. The Houston Chronicle is telling their stories in an occasional series.

George Helmond

No one knows for certain why George Helmond decided to brave rising water and flee his home on Galveston Island as Hurricane Ike lashed his neighborhood with furious winds and pounding rain.

Friends and relatives agree that Helmond, 72, would still be alive if he had remained in his house on Sydnor Lane. Instead, he drove his pickup into rapidly rising water Sept. 12 as Ike roared ashore.

Neighbors discovered Helmond's body in his pickup the next day a few hundred yards from his house. His body lay between the driver and passenger seats. The front windshield was shattered on the driver's side.

The coroner ruled his death a drowning.

His friends have their theories about why Helmond drove his pickup into the maw of the storm, but no one really understands how such a rash decision could be made by a master electrician who rose to positions of prominence in the local Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, El Mina Shrine Temple and Elks Lodge.

Leslie Nolan, a friend of Helmond's since high school, and his wife had already decided to weather the storm in their home. Like Helmond, Nolan calls himself a BOI, an acronym used by islanders that means Born on the Island.

Both had always refused to evacuate during hurricanes.

The two attended Ball High School and graduated together from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers apprentice school in 1957.

Don Hanson, a friend of 37 years who evacuated to the Dallas area ahead of Ike, spoke with Helmond several times by cell phone Friday morning as the storm waters gradually rose throughout the day.

Helmond was an avid hunter and fisherman and he and Hanson had often fished behind their homes in Sydnor Bayou, which on this day was swelling with storm tide.

When Hanson suggested that Helmond wade over to Hanson's house three doors down and get a life vest, Helmond replied, "I was born on the island and I'll die on the island."

Warren Finlay

There were no strangers in Warren Finlay's life.

The 61-year-old accountant was a regular helper to his Willis neighbors, whether it was mowing lawns or mending fences, said his wife, Louise Finlay. And he was committed to his church, St. Joseph Catholic Church in New Waverly, where he worked on the finance committee and refurbished the rectory.

"Although he was born and raised in Canada," Louise Finlay said, "he had a heart the size of Texas — always thinking of everyone else before himself. ... There were no strangers in this life."

Finlay, who loved gardening and redecorating, was injured Sept. 14 when he fell off a 20-foot ladder while clearing tree branches from his roof. He died a day later in Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.

"He was big on family values," said his son, Ian. "And he was very much the provider. And very supportive of our education, as well as his own."

Finlay had retired after 38 years with Toronto Dominion Bank, but was working as the plant accountant at Trinity Industries in Navasota, Louise Finlay said.

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Finlay moved to the United States in 1982 to live in Atlanta, and then to the Houston area in 1987. The family moved to Willis six years ago.

"We moved here from the Houston area because he loved fishing," his widow said. "You quite often would find him up at 4:30 in the morning, getting ready to see if we could put some fish on the table for dinner."

Gary Schweinle

When Hurricane Ike started to make its presence felt in Chambers County, Gary Schweinle of Anahuac climbed onto his metal roof to secure it from the whipping winds.

His electric drill put in a screw that nicked a utility line. That electrified the roof and electrocuted Schweinle when he grabbed an antenna to steady himself in a gust of wind, family members said.

His bride of two months, Tracy, a registered nurse, was unable to revive him. He died at the age of 52 on Sept. 12, the day before Ike's landfall.

"He had a heart of gold," said sister-in-law Nancy Schweinle, of Baytown. "He was a welder, the kind of go-to guy who can fix anything. That's why this surprised us."

His first wife, Lynn, died in a freak accident in 2001 from a "runaway barbecue pit," the sister-in-law said, explaining that a trailer hitch came loose and the barbecue broadsided her vehicle.

Schweinle met his second wife at a dance class, SSQQ, where they practiced ballroom and western dance steps.

"They loved dancing together," his sister-in-law said. "And sitting on the porch swing drinking coffee on his 14-acre horse ranch in Anahuac."

Schweinle also is survived by daughters Heather Hagan of Houston, Valarie Schweinle of Winnie, Kimberly Schweinle of Sugar Land, Amanda Schweinle and Kayla Kirkland, both of Anahuac; son, James Allan Kirkland IV of North Carolina; his mother, Joy Runnels and her husband, Pete, of Brazoria; sister, Mona Nesbitt of Lubbock; brother, Leonard Schweinle of Crosby; and one granddaughter.

German Garcia Rojas and Francisco Javier Garcia

The two friends had a lot in common. They worked for the same Houston house contractor, they were both single and roomed together, and were from the same city in Mexico.

And shortly after Hurricane Ike swept over Houston, the two young immigrants ended up dying together. Both were overcome by fumes from a portable generator they brought inside the mobile home they shared because they were afraid it might be stolen.

German Garcia Rojas, 32, who lived in a trailer at 14100 Del Papa in southeast Houston, was worried someone might break in and steal all his belongings. So he convinced his roommate, Francisco Javier Garcia, 20, to leave a hotel a neighbor had rented and return to the trailer after the storm passed.

"It was a sad, sad deal," said Greg Compean, owner of Compean Funeral Home, who handled arrangements to have the roommates' bodies shipped back to Mexico last week. "They were afraid of their generator being stolen, so they put it inside the trailer house with the windows boarded up. Needless to say, they didn't wake up in the morning and were not found until a couple of days later."

Rojas was found on Sept. 15th in the bathroom of his mobile home in north Houston. A neighbor said he had a cell phone in one hand. Garcia, was found dead in the kitchen.

A neighbor, Arcelia Favela, 36, rented a hotel room for the two men to stay with some of her teenage children who stayed in Houston during the storm.

"German was a very good friend of ours," said Favela, adding she knew him for three years. "We used to go have dinner with him, or go to church every Sunday. Most days he'd come to my house to talk. He talked about his family back in Mexico, his job."

Sheila C. Wood

Sheila C. Wood, 76, of Huntsville died in a house fire on the morning of Sept. 13, as Ike passed through Walker County.

Her husband, Robert B. Wood, told firefighters he was outside with their son when he noticed the house burning, and tried in vain to save Sheila, a mother of five, grandmother of six, and great-grandmother of seven.

Jacynthia Wood, 55, described her mother as compassionate and generous, with a "tremendous sense of humor" and an abiding "love for the Lord."

She said her mother was an exceptional cook who wrote up her own family cookbook, including knock-out recipes for German chocolate cake and special homemade chili (the secret ingredient was Coca Cola), Jacynthia said.

No one else could replicate them, she added.

"She's had several friends who've tried to make her recipes, but they never can get it to just come out right," Jacynthia said. "You gotta put the spices and the seasonings just right and put in the extra T.L.C."

Wood also is survived by sons Robert and Marc Wood and daughters Frances Mayfield and Janice Jordan.

James B. Devine

James B. Devine drowned Sept. 13, after refusing to leave his family's home in the coastal town of San Leon as the hurricane approached Galveston Bay.

The Houston native was 76. His daughter, Anne Devine Massicott, said she and her sister, Stephanie, urged him to leave before the storm, but he would not budge.

"He was a very hard-headed man," Devine-Massicott said, but also very much loved, particularly by his nine grandchildren.

"He will be missed," she said.

Devine graduated from Lamar High School, then joined the Marines and served in the Korean War. After returning from Korea, Devine earned a law degree from the University of Texas and became a respected oil and gas attorney and landman, family members said.

He also is survived by daughters Theresa Kroll and Camella Devine and son Pat Devine.

Saundra Lee Tykol

Saundra "Sassy" Lee Tykol, a master gardener in Huntsville, died Sept. 13 when a tree crashed through the roof of her family's home during the hurricane.

In her obituary, her family members wrote that Tykol, 66, left to "tend the gardens in heaven."

Her daughter, Hettie Stein, said her father came up with the nickname "Sassy," and the family found it a perfect fit.

"She was really tiny, like 4-foot-9," she said. "That's why we always called her Sassy. She was a ball of energy."

A San Mateo, Calif., native, Tykol was married to her husband, George for more than 47 years. She was a homemaker for much of her life, but also an avid gardener, and member and past-president of the Walker County Master Gardener's Association, Stein said.

She had four grandchildren whom she loved very much, Stein said, and was a wonderful mother to her and her brother, Matthew Tykol.

"She was my best friend," Stein said.

The family plans to donate Tykol's greenhouse full of orchids, her pride and joy, to the Master Gardener's Association, which has set up a scholarship fund in her name.

Lisa Anne Weaver

Lisa Anne Weaver had made up her mind to put her education degree to use after a career in the oil and gas accounting business.

After losing her job a few years ago and spending some time as a substitute teacher, Weaver, 58, was set to start her new career.

When power went out on her cherished Tomball home, which she had built, Weaver lit some candles and, apparently, fell asleep.

The house caught fire and Weaver died of smoke inhalation, along with her pets — two Yorkies and a cat, said her brother, David Weaver of Pinehurst.

"She wanted to teach elementary," he said. "She had been teaching middle school math" while substitute teaching.

After getting a degree in music with a minor in education from Houston Baptist University, Lisa Weaver learned a complex computer program which allowed her to work in the oil and gas business, her brother said.

"She was incredibly smart," he said.

Weaver loved music, especially the voice of Josh Groban. David Weaver said he plans to incorporate Groban's music at his sister's funeral.

Services tentatively are scheduled for Oct. 6 at Klein Funeral Home. Weaver will be buried at Klein Cemetery next to her mother, Mary K. Jones.

Dung Duc Nguyen

Dung Duc Nguyen died of a heart attack on Sept. 15, after cleaning up storm debris at his home on several acres at the end of a dead-end street in eastern Pearland.

The Galveston County Medical Examiner's office reported that Nguyen, 40, died of ischemic heart disease, a pre-existing health condition, but included his death in a list of Ike-related deaths.

Police reported that he complained of shortness of breath and chest pain after working to clear his property.

He left his native Vietnam with his parents and six siblings in 1975.

The family lived for a while in Florida before moving to the Pasadena and the Houston area. He graduated from Dobie High School and attended San Jacinto College.

He worked for an air conditioning company and helped his mother operate a small electronics firm his father started.

He was married and had no children.

He and his wife lived with his mother on property his parents bought as a retirement home.

Joel Smith

Ten-year-old Joel Smith was an energetic boy who loved doing simple things, including camping and hunting with his father and brother and learning Bible scripture with his mother.

''He had a split family but he enjoyed the best of both worlds," said his older half-sister, Jamie Bordelon.

Joel was the first victim of Hurricane Ike. The fourth-grader at Decker Prairie Elementary in Magnolia died Sept. 12, the day before the storm hit. His father, Nathan Smith, was cutting down a tree in the back of their west Montgomery County home in preparation for the storm. Joel ran in the path of the falling tree and it struck his head.

Nathan Smith, a professional tree cutter and sculptor, said his son liked to make others happy.

''He played with kids of all ages," Smith said. "He liked to have fun, laughing around and telling jokes. We called him little Jim Carrey."

The red-headed youngster also enjoyed his father's craft of wood sculpting and was working on some of his own projects, including a double-neck Gibson guitar he designed, Smith said.

''It was turning out real good," he said. "I cut it out and he was sanding it out."

He played the harmonica and was learning to play the guitar. He also liked to sing.

Bordelon said Joel was always thoughtful and willing to help others. He often doted on Bordelon's 12-year-old autistic son and 3-year-old daughter, showing them how to do new things and playing with them, she said.

''He just had that personality," Bordelon said. "He wanted to make sure they were taken care of and weren't left out."

Robert Frederick Dort

Robert Frederick Dort, 75, fell in love with Galveston when he moved to the island three years ago.

"He was a self-made man that followed his own rules," said his wife Joan Quinn. The couple lived in Atlanta before coming to Galveston.

Dort was found dead in his home on Sept. 20, a week after Hurricane Ike struck the island. The Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office said he died from complications from heart disease.

His stepdaughter, Gail Peterson of Galveston, said Dort wanted to stay on the island to experience a hurricane.

"He said these three years in Galveston were the happiest times in his life," Peterson said. "He loved it. He walked and walked and walked and walked."

Peterson said Dort served two years in the Army and was stationed in Germany during the Korean War.

She said he worked for various electronic companies, including Motorola and Intel.

Dort has three children from a previous marriage to Marian Dort of Phoenix. They are Barbara Dort of St. George, Utah; Tom Dort of North Carolina; and Robert Lee Dort of California.

Charles Skiles Lively

Charles Skiles Lively left Bowling Green, Ky., in 1951 to pursue an education and career in music.

His musical journey eventually brought him to Houston, where he served as organist for South Main Baptist Church for 46 years.

"He was fantastic," said his niece, Jeannine Kennedy Thames of Bowling Green. "He was extremely gifted."

Lively, 79, moved to Galveston in 1998 after he retired from the church, family members said. He died Sept. 15, in League City, where he was taken to flee from Hurricane Ike. The Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office said he died from complications from Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.

The son of the late Fred H. Lively and Delia Skiles Lively, he was born Feb. 24, 1929, in Bowling Green. He graduated from Bowling Green High School in 1946 and served in the Army from 1954 to 1956.

Lively graduated from Western Kentucky University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where he received his masters in music. He studied music and organ in Syracuse, N.Y.

"He was a very beloved brother," said his sister, Helen Lively Stone of Bowling Green.

Thomas Coker, South Main's minister of music, said the church will have a memorial service for Lively at a later date. Coker said Lively regularly played for two Sunday services as well as other church functions.

"He was a real organist in many Baptist circles," Coker said. "He was a consummate gentleman. He was a gentle soul."

Manuel Moreno Jr.

The family of a Houston toddler sought refuge in Dallas from Hurricane Ike, but they found tragedy there instead.

The toddler, Manuel Moreno Jr., 17 months old, was with his parents and other relatives Sept. 14 outside an east Dallas restaurant. Police said he ran from his mother and into a nearby gas station parking lot in the 7000 block of Military Parkway. He was then struck and killed by an SUV.

His parents, Manuel Moreno Sr., and Ysenia Perez, were inconsolable, the boy's aunt, Marilou Moreno said. His mother wailed and his father didn't wish to speak with anyone, she added.

He was a very good, playful baby, Moreno said.

Charges were not filed against the driver after the incident was ruled an accident.

The family has lived in Houston for about four years after moving here from their native Mexico. The couple has another son who is 4 months old, Moreno said.

Joshua Jacob Aguirre

Joshua Jacob Aguirre died Sept. 13 at his northeast Houston home of carbon monoxide toxicity.

He was 4.

Aguirre was found in a bedroom with three siblings at his home in the 1100 block of Cresline in northeast Houston. A gas generator was found inside the house near the back door, police said.

Roman Aguirre, the boy's father, who was at work and unable to contact his family, asked his brother to check on them. Joshua, his stepmother, and three other children were found suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning.

The four survivors were treated at Memorial Hermann Hospital.

Joshua was pronounced dead at his home.

Kaven David "Red" Randle, Rekesha Hopkins and Rogers Smith III

A man, his girlfriend and her half-brother died of carbon monoxide poisoning in southwest Houston in Fort Bend County on Sept. 18.

The deaths happened at the home of Kaven David "Red" Randle, 43, and Rekesha DeUnshay Hopkins, 35, in the 4900 block of Ridgecreek.

Rogers Smith III, 29, of Beaumont, died while visiting the couple.

Randle worked for 11 years detailing chrome and other parts of commercial trucks. He learned the skill from his mother, Georgia Mae Randle of Beaumont.

"He loved his job," she said. "He wouldn't have traded it for a million dollars."

Randle and Hopkins bred pit bulls and sold them from the home, his mother said. Two dogs died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Randle was raised in Beaumont and graduated from Westbrook High School and Stephen F. Austin State University, where he played football, his mother said.

"He was a very peaceful, very respectful, very jolly young man," she said.

He was separated from his wife, Schronda Randle, his mother said. He leaves a son, Jeremie, and a daughter, Kendra.

Hopkins worked at as a phlebotomist at a Baytown medical facility, Randle's mother said.

"She was a very smart girl," Georgia Mae Randle said. "As long as she had something to read in her hands, she was happy. A lot of times, she was reading medical journals."

Rogers Smith III is survived by his parents, Rogers Smith Jr. and Winona.

Jose Luis Rosas-Davalos

Jose Leon was awakened by the persistent barking of the family dog, and thought at first someone was trying to break into the family's apartment.

Inside the darkened residence at 6161 Reims, Leon quickly realized a portable generator he had left running inside had filled the air with poisonous fumes. His son, Jose Luis Rosas-Davalos, 18, appeared to be sleeping but he could not wake him.

''My husband called 911, and they came and gave him emergency treatments," said the victim's mother, Elizabeth Davalos, who was vacationing in North Carolina when Hurricane Ike hit Houston. ''He died at the hospital."

She said her husband was unaware of the danger of carbon monoxide fumes, as were many in the Houston area who became ill due to the exhaust from portable generators used after the hurricane.

"Unfortunately, they put the generator in the apartment," Davalos said. "What happened is before the storm, people didn't know how much danger there was. Now, there has been a lot of discussion. And also, people didn't read the labels."

Davalos said her son was working as a carpenter in Houston for about a year, trying to save money to begin his college education in Mexico and become a computer engineer.

"What can you expect a mother to say — he was a special child," Davalos said. "He was happy, he was thinking about his future, and he worked hard. He never had any problems with the police. He wanted to save his money, and go back to Mexico. "

Paulo Mares

Paulo Mares, 54, woke up early the morning Hurricane Ike blew into Houston. He went out to his garage, and started up an emergency generator.

His family later found him unconscious in the enclosed garage.

"They say the generator was inside the garage, and the doors were closed," said a relative of Mares, who asked not to be identified. "When he got up at dawn, he went out there in the garage and he turned it on.

"And since the garage was all closed up, he just stayed there asleep."

Mares, who lived in the 40200 block of Kitty Dale in Houston, worked as a gardener at a local golf course and had lived in Houston for more than 10 years, his relative said.

He was originally from the Mexican state of Guanajuato, but was a legal resident who came to Houston more than a decade ago. He and his wife have grown children who reside in Mexico, the relative said.

Yong Seng Teo

Yong Seng Teo, manager of the Sandpiper Motel, was found Sept. 14 inside the motel on Galveston's seawall.

He was 49.

Teo, who had to be identified through fingerprints, died of natural causes that went untreated because of the hurricane, the Galveston County Medical Examiner's office concluded.

His body remains at the medical examiner's office because authorities have been unable to contact his relatives. John Florence, the office's chief investigator, contacted consulate officials in Taiwan to locate his family members there.

John A. Manley

John A. Manley died Sept. 15 of chronic renal failure when the storm kept him from dialysis treatment.

He was 66.

The League City man was remembered during a service Friday at Veterans Funeral Services, across from the Houston Veterans Affairs National Cemetery.

Carolyn Williams

Carolyn Williams, a retired health-care worker, died Sept. 15 of renal failure when the storm kept her from dialysis treatment.

She was 64.

Williams was born in Matagorda County on March 8, 1944.

The League City woman was known for her love of her grandchildren and dedication to family functions, according to an obituary in the Galveston County Daily News.

Her survivors include: sons Seautry "JR" Harkless and John Williams; daughters Savannah Taylor, Bonita Harkless, Rotonda Harkless, Brenda Jackson, Leslie Amos and Miracle Smith.

She was buried Tuesday at Bethlehem Cemetery in Cedar Lake.

Reported by Rosanna Ruiz, Harvey Rice, Ruth Rendon, Bill Murphy, David Ellison, Susan Carroll, Renée C. Lee, James Pinkerton, Richard Stewart and Cindy Horswell.