In her fourth book, Crumpton looks back on Hurricane Katrina

By Savannah Phillips

Student writer

A business owner and board-certified health coach, Rosanny Crumpton '05 kept her side passion, writing, to herself for years. She has kept a private journal ever since she can remember, and throughout adolescence and early adulthood she wrote and compiled her poetry, for her eyes only.

But in 2015, Crumpton finally felt moved to share her work, hoping to inspire and encourage others with the written word. Following that surge of bravery, she created her own blogand wrote for online publications. In 2018, her first book was published, and two have followed suit. Book four, Resilience, Vision, and Community: Hurricane Katrina 20 Years Later, is set to be released this winter.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and Crumpton had a personal connection to the catastrophic event that led her to the creation of her latest book.

Just a month before the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast, she visited friend and Wingate alumnus Terrance Hinton '03 in his hometown of Baton Rouge, La., for the weekend.

After returning home, the unthinkable happened. On Aug. 29, Katrina, a category 3 storm with 120mph winds, made landfall. It took Crumpton days to contact Hinton, and she was relieved to find that he was OK.

"The very places I was just at were devastated," she said. "The big, flashing 1-800 number - 'join us, help us' - Red Cross commercials kept coming on. … I was just at home and I felt helpless."

Rosy Crumpton stands beside a felled tree in September 2025. Crumpton volunteered with the Red Cross in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

These days, Crumpton is a successful business owner, running Sophrosyne Wellnessand helping her husband, Brandon Crumpton '03, with his thriving business, Key Signature. But as a 22-year-old still searching for her first full-time job, Crumpton felt called to volunteer. Against her mother's wishes, she called the number, arrived on day 9 after the hurricane, and was stationed in Mississippi.

During her time as a Red Cross volunteer, Crumpton unknowingly gathered the pieces that would eventually make up her fourth book.

"At the time, I hadn't published anything," she said, looking back at that time of her life. "But I was definitely a writer then.

"Each night that I was there, I wrote down what I had seen - any experiences that were touching for me - and I just kept it all for myself."

Crumpton was there for three weeks, and when stores finally began to reopen, she bought a disposable camera. She wanted to have pictures to keep just for herself, similar to how she wrote personal entries in her journal about her experience. She also brought newspaper clippings and Red Cross memos back with her.

Once at home, Crumpton used another art form, scrapbooking, to turn all of these components into something beautiful. "And I just kept it all these years, just for me, in a drawer in my guest room," Crumpton said.

Crumpton said that her time as a Red Cross volunteer really put things into perspective. "My problem at the time was 'where am I going to find my next job?'" Crumpton said with a reflective smile. "It was a very lasting, meaningful experience for me.

"I feel privileged that I did get to experience going down there to witness humanity on another level - people who had lost their homes and their loved ones. … Train tracks looked like you twisted and turned them. … Big, 100-plus-year-old trees were completely torn down and twisted up. It was pure destruction."

As a volunteer, Crumpton was in a position to provide support and resources to those in need. Witnessing the "love and strength of a community who all are in need was something that will forever be impactful in my life," she said.

Her scrapbook of memories stayed in the drawer until last year, when Crumpton showed it to her friend Andree West, a New Orleans native. For the first time, the two women had a conversation about Hurricane Katrina and their respective experiences.

"She was like, 'Rosy, thisis your next book," Crumpton said. "'You need to publish this.'"

Sadly, West was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in December, and she passed away in January of 2025.

Crumpton remembers being hesitant. "Those notes were just for me," she said, "and I only, with much hesitation, decided to publish earlier this year because of my friend's encouragement."

Looking back at her scrapbook, Crumpton realized that she did not want to "share the stories of the past." "I want to share the stories of now," she said.

Crumpton went back to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, rented a car, and made her way to Mississippi, where she was stationed two decades ago.

"I met with the folks at Red Cross," she said. "They were so warm and welcoming. I met with the mayor of Gulfport, Mississippi, and I got to meet with someone who was in one of my newspaper clippings. His story resonated with me then, and I found him now. I showed him the clipping and I got to interview him. I got a picture of him holding that. It was very special."

Crumpton wanted to take current pictures of the places she had been to in 2005, and to collect journal entries and stories from now. "This book celebrates the resilience of then and now," Crumpton said. "I think that vulnerability is important, and that sharing stories is important. There's always an impact to that."

Resilience, Vision, and Community: Hurricane Katrina 20 Years Lateris meant to be a coffee-table book, and Crumpton has two hopes for those who pick it up: that they will learn, and that they will be drawn to go to the Gulf Coast.

"If my writing can be a tool for that," Crumpton said, "then that's what I would want it to be."

All author proceeds are being given to that community. "I don't want to collect or benefit financially in any way," she said.

Crumpton looks to inspire and motivate young writers, leaving them with this message: "This is simple, but just write. Whether you're writing for you at the moment, or whether you're contemplating if you're going to publish or not down the line, or in the moment - just do it. So many times we get in our own way. We get stuck in the editing piece of things: Is this just right? Is this shareable? Is this good enough? Just write it. You can decide what to do with it later on. But just keep sharing the love that you have through that art."

Warren Publishing is now taking preordersof Crumpton's new book.

Oct. 12, 2025