After 37 years of compromise, Charlotte Strauser had finally gotten her way.

“When we were first married,” said the New Orleans native, “we lived in Nashville. I didn’t really want to live in Nashville. When we moved back to New Orleans, I said I didn’t want to live on the West Bank, and I didn’t want green carpet. I got both. Then I said I would never live on the northshore, and we ended up in Tchefuncte Estates.”

By 2005, when her husband, Lee, retired after a long career in industrial sales, the couple was ready to downsize. Charlotte Strauser was delighted to find a charming 120-year-old center-hall cottage in Old Mandeville for sale.

But there was to be yet another delay in attaining her dream home, this one caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Well- acquainted with the home

As a child

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