From the Desk of Fr. Gary

"Don't Leave Home Without It" - February 17th, 2012

For a long time up north, I refused to have a cell phone. I had only a short ten minute drive to my house and for that little bit of time, I could stay out of touch. There was a phone at home and one in the office, so why did I need to talk in between? Of course all that’s changed down here in Texas, but that was life on an island in Alaska. But a few smarty pants had them, especially the younger folks. They loved to pull them out in public, it seemed to show off. But I didn’t need one.

Of course it was nice when we borrowed a clunky bag phone to try out at summer camp. We could call across to the other island where the hardware store was and have our supplies delivered to the dock to pick up when we boated over. It was so nice when we were looking for a lost camper to find that he taken a boat ride over to the other side to be treated in the ER for a scrape on his leg. I’ll never forget those moments of terror and the relief to hear his voice. And it was great when we operated our food booth to call for supplies.

But the greatest tale was when one of our younger church folks had gone deer hunting and brought his phone along for safety. Deer hunting in southeast Alaska was a stalking affair. There were no deer stands and no deer leases. You had to stalk your game and field dress it and bring it home in your back pack, unless you were close to the limited road network.

Pat, who was in the Coast Guard, had gone hunting on Gravina Island. He was far on the backside of the island removed from the airport that we all flew in and out of. He had traveled in his small boat and then anchored out and paddled into shore in his small skiff, that he carried on the roof of his boat. From there he had hiked a considerable distance up the side of a nearby mountain in search of game. He climbed higher blazing his own trail or following a game trail. At last he came out of the heavy woods to a relatively clear rock face. He traversed the rock face climbing ever higher. Suddenly the ground gave way and there he was stuck way up on a rock ledge. He had no rope and any movement to escape would lead to a fall to the lower terrain nearly a hundred feet below. Pat started thinking: “My phone has a little charge on it, I’ll call my wife Martha”. She answered “You guys are in the rescue business, call the Coast Guard!” Pat hated the embarrassment but called and directed a chopper in to his rescue. Martha called me and I think I even spoke to Pat before he was plucked from the edge of the mountain.

A lot of prayer helped and also remembering to “don’t leave home without it.”

By the Reverend Gary S. Herbst