A few weeks after graduation two of our classmates, Ed Healey and Randy Shacklett, perished during the Rapid City Flood of June 9, 1972.  That night, Ed and Randy were out with two other classmates Mike Faust and John Denges. Kay Liebig ('73) and Gayle Nemeti ('73) were also with them; Kay survived, Gayle perished. 

Mike Faust tells their story in the South Dakota Public Broadcasting Documentary that will be aired June 9, 2022 -- the 50 year anniversary of the flood.  Part of Mike's story is told in the trailer for the Documentary that can be accessed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G1m1s1WmM8  

An edited version of this story as told by Seth Tupper also is published in Surviving the '72 Flood: Eyewitness Accounts from one of the Nation's Deadliest Disasters -- a 50 year anniversary commemorative book currently distributed in Rapid City. 

Mike's Story continues in his Epilogue that he gave us permission to share with the Class of '72 .... as you will see, Mike's flood story continues to this day. Thank you, Mike, for sharing ...

Epilogue 1 (November 13, 2013) by Mike Faust

 

After the flood of June 9, 1972 I lived the next 40 years with serious survivor’s guilt.

Why did I survive and others did not? I repressed that night from my mind and was never

able to really talk about it.

 

On June 9, 2012 Rapid City hosted a ceremony commemorating the 40^th anniversary of

the 1972 flood and invited family members of the victims to attend. Since I never had

the opportunity to speak to any of the families of the young people with me that night 40

years ago I was hoping to have the opportunity to speak to each of them at the ceremony.

As I arrived at the Civic Center, I approached the reception table and asked if they could

tell me if the families of Gayle Nemeti or Ed Healey had registered. I was told that 2

people from Gayle’s family and 3 from Ed’s had registered.

 

I was told that one of those from Gayle’s family was her mother, Evelyn Thompson, and

I concluded that one of those from Ed’s family had to be his brother, Jerry Healey, since I

knew Ed’s parents had passed away. I had never met Gayle’s mother and had no idea

what Jerry might look like after 40 years.

 

As I walked into the Civic Center I was surprised to see a photographic display of all of

the victims. Although the photographs had been arranged randomly, the first photographs

I saw were those of Gayle and Ed arranged very close to one another. I took this as a sign

that I must make every effort to locate the families.

 

I located two ushers and asked if they could help me find the families by making some

sort of announcement to the crowd that I wanted to locate them. They referred me to a

Civic Center manager and I briefly told him my story and asked if he could make an

announcement for me at intermission or after the ceremony. He said he could not do that

because the families may not want me to contact them and he did not want to open old

wounds so no announcement was ever made. I was on my own and feeling hurt and

angry.

 

As the ceremony continued, moderator Verne Sheppard was doing a wonderful job of

telling the stories of many of the victims and I realized that the families of those who

were with me that night had never been told the full or real story of what happened. More

then ever I was determined to find them and tell them all that happened that night.

 

My first thought was to return to the photo display in hopes of catching a family member

taking down the photos but then I realized that the display would remain up through the

next day. Disheartened and noticing that it was starting to rain I decided that since I had

arrived on my motorcycle I should just go home upset that I had not been able to

reach out to the families. As I headed to my motorcycle, just before leaving the building,

I heard the loudest clap of thunder I had ever heard.  It made me stop and, thinking it

might be another sign, I reconsidered my decision to leave. I returned to the photo display

and notice there was now a large crowd viewing the photos.

 

 

I was not sure if I would recognize who would be looking at Ed Healey’s photo but I

remembered Ed’s parents were deceased and that he had only one brother, Jerry, who is a

few years older than me but I could not remember what he looked like other than back

then he had a beard. As I looked the crowd over, I noticed a man about my age with a

beard looking at Ed’s photo. I decided to go over and ask if he might be Jerry Healey and

to my surprise he said he was. I told him I am Mike Faust and that I was with Ed on the

night he died. Jerry was visibly stunned. We went out to the lobby where I explained to

Jerry, his wife, Judy, and Jim Burgess, a friend, all that happened that dark night.

 

It turns out that Jerry lives in Billings, MT, and it was pure luck that he decided to come

to the ceremony in Rapid City. Jerry did not want to come and had no intention of

coming, but Judy and Jim Burgess convinced him he should come because there were a

lot loose ends and unanswered questions that needed to be resolved surrounding Ed’s

death. So Jerry reluctantly decided to come and as a result had this chance meeting with

me. The next day Jerry left early for Billings but after the Sunday ceremony Jim Burgess

and I had lunch together and I told him everything that happened to us on June 9^, 1972

and I learned that all of that had been very hard on Jerry too. Jerry, Jim and I have

remained good friends since that day.

 

The next day, Monday, the Rapid City Journal ran a story about the ceremony and

a picture of the photo display with Gayle and Ed’s pictures prominent. I was

shocked. So many things of more than coincidence had happened surrounding that

entire weekend. I started to realize how much I would like to speak directly to Kay Liebig

and Gayle’s mom, Evelyn. I started my search for them and through Kay’s brother I

found out Kay lives in Rapid City. I contacted her and we arranged to meet and, without

knowing it, she picked Founders Park which again is so ironic because it is the exact

location of the tree I was able to climb that saved my life.

 

As Kay and I talked, she remembered how she, Ed and Gayle asked Randy Shacklett,

John Denges and I to buy them some beer so we could all ride around together and have a

little fun.  John, who was the only one 18, agreed to buy the beer. I believe it was

something he regretted doing for the rest of his life. He had problems with alcohol most

of his life and died of a brain aneurysm in 1986. Kay remembered putting the beer and

their purses in the trunk of the car. Later when the car was found a friend of hers

retrieved the purses from the trunk.

 

Kay also remembered how the picture of Ed Healey, which was taken in 1972 by a friend

of hers, ended up on the display board at the Civic Center after it was submitted by Jerry

Healey. It seems Kay and Gayle’s mother gave the picture to Ed’s mother and following

her death the picture was inadvertently passed on to Jerry as one of the few pictures of Ed

that were usable for the display. Another set of coincidences hard for me to explain.

 

Kay also told me that during the events of the flood evening she barely made it up the fire

escape ladder after she ran from the car. She spent the night in the building and was

found by a friend of mine who came looking for us. He took Kay home the next day.

 

I am still close to the Shacklett brothers, Randy was my age, but he had three brothers.

One was older and has moved away from Rapid City but the two younger ones live here.

I have found Gayle’s mother, Evelyn, and thru Kay, I am trying to arrange to meet with

her. She now lives in Rapid City.

 

My story is still continuing to happen in real time and as the events of June 9, 1972

changed me, so too, have the events of June 9, 2012. The months following that

date helped me come to rest with myself, but there is still much to do. Rapid City

completely changed after the “72” flood. Now there is a greenway through town where

homes and businesses can no longer build. There is a great bike path and many

wonderful new parks on the site of the flood.  It is unlikely that a flood of this nature will

ever produce that type of severe damage and loss of life again.

 

Epilogue 2 (November 11, 2021) by Mike Faust

I received a Facebook text from someone I did not know asking if I would talk about my

experiences during the 1972 flood. Because I did not know this person I said no until I noticed from the Facebook text that she is a friend of the Shackletts. Randy Shacklett died that night as a passenger in my vehicle. So I agree to speak about it and she put me in touch with a group of individuals creating a photo book of stories that occurred that night. The timing of this was critical because they only had a short deadline to get the book completed before the 50^th anniversary on June 9, 2022.

 

I gathered some photographs I had taken and told them my story about what happened to

me during the flood. They wanted to know if I had any pictures of the vehicle that I was

in and I told them I was sorry but I did not have pictures of that vehicle. They asked if I

had any pictures of myself back in 1972 and again I said none that I could find.

 

Then I remembered that my sister had given me a folder of some old photographs 

she had discovered after my mother passed away. As I opened the folder to my utter

amazement one of the first photographs that came out was one of me and my 1962 Chevy

Impala that was taken on my graduation day just a few days before the flood. That was

the only photograph of the car we were in on the day of the flood. I never knew that

photo ever existed. Then I recalled my mother coming outside with her Kodak instamatic

camera and taking that picture. I treasure that picture now.

 

So that is how it came about that my story appears in the book put together by John

Sundby of  Rapid City. With the 50^th anniversary coming soon I am left wondering if

there is anything more that could still happen!

 

Michael Faust