Ellington

The Sun-Herald is reporting:

Louis Maxey Sr., 92, was a gifted storyteller who enjoyed reading and traveling in his retirement years after a successful career as a plastic surgeon. He had traveled to Russia, Europe and South Korea, and had hoped to travel to Africa, and to maybe one day turn out a novel, but he never got around to it. On Aug. 29 Maxey and his wife, Harneitha, 75, perished as flood waters and winds from Hurricane Katrina destroyed their Long Beach home around them.

The Maxeys were among the first 13 names of Hurricane Katrina victims released Saturday by Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove.

The official death toll for the six Coastal counties now stands at 162, and Saturday was the first day since the storm hit that Harrison County officials identified any of the county's 85 victims.

"He (Louis) was an avid reader, and he could talk on any subject," said Maxey's son, Roger. "The most I remember were the stories he would tell. We called him the king of lectures. He had a story about Maxey's Cutrate Drugs, his first business in Indianapolis. He wanted to write a novel and call it `Maxey's Cutrate Drugs,' but he never got around to it."

Louis, originally of Indianapolis, started as a pharmacist, went back to school and got a dental degree before getting a medical degree.