SAN ANTONIO – The last time Chuck and Teresa Hulshof, of San Antonio, spoke to their daughter was the Saturday before Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico on Sept. 20.
Dr. Catherine Hulshof, a professor at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez, and her boyfriend, Wilson Davalos, the owner of a restaurant recognized by the New York Times, live in the coastal city of Isabela, which is due west of the capital city, San Juan.
“She told me they had hurricane windows and they were going to be safe,” her mother said, and they were stocking up food and water.
Still, like most parents, they were worried.
Seeing the devastation in San Juan, but little news coverage of damage elsewhere, her father wondered, “Did their place get inundated? We heard about storm surges of 6 to 9 feet, and they’re just blocks from the coast.”
Although communication was virtually impossible, the Hulshofs still kept trying to call their daughter's cellphone for nine days after Maria pummeled Puerto Rico.
Her mother left message after message.
“We’re calling to find out if you all are OK. Please call us," Teresa Hulshof said in a voicemail to her daughter.
Within an hour after speaking with KSAT 12 NEWS about their ordeal, the Hulshofs finally heard their home phone ringing.
“She goes, ‘Mom?’ And I’m like, ‘Cathy?’ And she goes, ‘I’m on a satellite phone. I only have a few minutes,'” Teresa Hulshof said in describing the long-awaited phone call.
Someone had made a satellite phone available to people who were waiting to call their loved ones.
Teresa Hulshof said she yelled out to her husband, who came running. She said they held the receiver between them during the brief phone call.
“I didn’t get to ask her how bad it was, if the restaurant was destroyed or their house,” she said, but her daughter did say they were still in Isabela. They hoped to be back stateside in a couple of weeks.
“She sounded happy to talk to me, but she sounded a little tired,” Teresa Hulshof said. “That’s what we needed to know, that she was alright.”