Friends remember the homeless who died this year

Jeanette Harding did not know the homeless who died in Myrtle Beach this year by name, but she knew them by face.

And the 42-year-old who was homeless herself a number of times, wanted to pay her respects Thursday during a memorial service that remembered the 23 homeless people who died on the streets or in the woods in Myrtle Beach.

“It was important for me to come today because these were people,” said Harding, who currently is in transitional housing. “People usually see homeless and not people. If it was me, I would want to be remembered.”

She was among about 25 people at Thursday’s vigil who sang songs such as “Amazing Grace,” said prayers, and lit candles in memory of the homeless people who died this year.

Swash Park Ministry and the Community Kitchen of Myrtle Beach held the candlelight vigil Thursday afternoon at the Community Kitchen.

Thursday was the third year of the vigil, with the death toll being the highest in a single year for the homeless since the ministry began 11 years ago, according to Carol Stallings, who organized the first vigil held in the city in 2009. Last year 18 homeless people died in Myrtle Beach.

The vigil “is the only closure that some of the homeless have after losing their friend or fellow camp mate, and to some that is the only family they have,” Stallings said.

Harding, who has been in the Myrtle Beach area since 1988, said in today’s economy, chances are more people are going to become homeless, which she would not want to see.

“I wish there were more preventive measures such as apprenticeship programs, more educational opportunities, and companies working with people who are behind on their bills – simple things to help people trying to get back on their feet,” said Harding, who works part-time at a local restaurant.

Advocates for the homeless have been exploring ways to prevent homelessness, including creating more affordable housing for the homeless.

A 10-year-plan to end homelessness in Horry County shows a need for more shelters, resources, and agencies working together in Horry County.

The Myrtle Beach City Council passed a resolution in August in support of certain programs designed to help those who are homeless but trying to break free from the cycle of homelessness.

According to the 2011 homeless count, there are 608 homeless people in Horry County compared with 893 people in 2009. Those who work with the homeless think, however, there are more people than the biannual count shows.

Majority of the homeless come from other states and areas to Myrtle Beach “looking for jobs, but there are no jobs in Myrtle Beach either,” Stallings said. “It’s such a shame.” The 23 people remembered Thursday included at least five who died from heart attacks, two who died in a moped accident, two who died in their sleep, one who overdosed on drugs, one who drowned, and some who died from cancer, according to organizers.

“I’m saddened to think this happened in our city, any city in the United States,” said Wayne Brown during a prayer at Thursday’s vigil. “We’re not talking about things here. We’re talking about people that have died on the streets and woods of Myrtle Beach. My prayer is that we see them as people.”

One of those people was Walter Abbott’s girlfriend who died days after she was pulled from a pond.

Glenda Marlowe, 45, died May 23 from injuries due to drowning, according to the Horry County Coroner’s Office.

Authorities said Marlowe tried to swim across a pond in a wooded area at Canal Street and Osceola Street, but Abbott said Marlowe was afraid of swimming and he believes she was pushed in.

The couple lived together in the woods in the Myrtle Beach area for 6 1/2 years.

Abbott said the Swash Park Ministry and the Community Kitchen have been good to him, but it was time for him to move on following Marlowe’s death.

Abbott, who came to Myrtle Beach in the early 2000s because of the weather and amusement, moved back to Kansas a couple of months ago -- shortly after he was released from jail for intentionally burning land in the Myrtle Beach area.

Abbott said he started the fire in a wooded area and stopped attending the vigil for the homeless because he wasn’t getting any answers about Marlowe’s death.

“No one got to the bottom of it,” he said via telephone Wednesday. “Just another homeless person. I got that attitude.”

Abbott, who’s been attending AA meetings since he’s been in Kansas, said he knows he will do better in Kansas than Myrtle Beach because of his family.

“I wasn’t going anywhere there,” said Abbott, who would like to see more or better services to help the homeless.

For Harding, such services could prevent homelessness.

“Homeless people, they want to laugh, love and have just as much compassion, but for some reason or another they don’t have that opportunity,” Harding said.