Donna Parks

Written Memory

My name is Donna Parks and I want to say that we did not live in the flood area, but like almost everyone in Rapid City, we worried about family members and friends. On that day, my father, Delbert Harbaugh, was a patient at the Bennett-Clarkson Hospital, on the top floor. He had been sedated, but was awakened in the night by a nurse, who wanted to borrow his battery-powered radio, which he had by his bedside. He said she could use it, then turned over and went back to sleep. When he woke up the next morning, he saw outside his west window what looked like a lake with people in boats moving about. He thought he was seeing things, hallucinating, because he knew he should be seeing flower beds and grass. But what he saw was real. That nurse was very observant to remember that radio on Dad's bedside table. It was the only way the staff could find out what was going on. Later that day, he went home a bit earlier than planned.