Eugene Pappan and family feel like refuges in their own homeland.
By Kevin Abourezk
OMAHA, Nebraska –
Eugene Pappan served as an anti-aircraft gunner for the U.S. Army during the Korean War.
He came home to the
Omaha Reservation in northeast Nebraska and began building a life for his family. Eventually, he decided to move his family to the city of Omaha so his children could have access to a better education.
He worked as a warehouse laborer, becoming a foreman, and later drove semi-trailers for a trucking company.
In 2001, just a few weeks after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Pappan lost his home in a fire and was forced to find a new home. He and many of his children and grandchildren eventually settled in a five-bedroom home in central Omaha.
On Tuesday, the 87-year-old veteran learned the bank that held the mortgage on his family’s home had sold it at auction on November 1 and that he would be forced to leave. Retired and with few financial resources, Pappan and his family now face an uncertain future.
“Dad worked hard all his life,” said his son, John Pappan. “I’m hoping we can buy time to find a place.”
John Pappan and his father, 87-year-old Eugene Pappan. Photo courtesy of Barbara Salvatore
John Pappan said he and more than a dozen of his family members live in the home.
He said his family has struggled in recent years with finding employment and making mortgage payments and even took out a second mortgage on the home to catch up on bills. Wells Fargo, which held their mortgage, told the family in September that it planned to foreclose on the home in November unless the family could come up with nearly $6,000, which the family was unable to do despite seeking support through a Facebook fundraiser.
“Things just started adding up,” said John Pappan.
The 58-year-old said he doesn’t know whether his family will be able to find a home able to accommodate everyone that now lives in his father’s home. Those family members include three young children and two teenagers.
He said he tried to work with Well Fargo to give his family more time to raise money to pay off their past due payments, but the bank refused to give them extra time.
“They have no heart,” he said. “They have no compassion.”
He said he’s hoping to contact a lawyer to help his family fight their eviction.
However, he also plans to seek help from nonprofit organizations in Omaha that serve the homeless in order to find new housing. The family also has set up a
GoFundMe page to help raise money.
Recently, he and his brother found jobs at the Ponca Tribe’s new casino in nearby Carter Lake, Iowa. The
Prairie Flower Casino officially opened November 1 just five minutes from downtown Omaha.
“God has finally answered our prayers, but the thing is it was too late for the house,” John Pappan said.
“We are refugees in our own Umaha homeland. Our ancestors lived, hunted, thrived and are buried here in Nebraska and Iowa. I never thought this would happen to us.”
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