if jr C
In Brooklyn, Helen i$ reunited with
her mother Ida, brother Arthur,
and sister-in-law Fran.
Ralph Flores, who kept Helen's
epirit up by giving her the Bible
to read, calls wife after rescue.
"The Bible Kept Me Alive," Helen Said
(Continued from page 5)
learn that I was not witnessing just a miraculous
survival, but that I was privileged to be part of a
profound religious experience as well.
Helen was in bad shape. Her left arm was
broken and in a splint Her right foot was frac
tured, and gangrene had set in (subsequently she
would lose her toes on that foot). She said she
was "plump" once; now her arms were taut flesh
over bone. Yet she had some deeper strength in
her, and I sensed she could sustain more than the
hardiest Yukon veteran. Suddenly she caught
my arm.
"And my mother? Oh, God, she must have
suffered more than II You've told her, haven't
youT All this time not knowing whether I was
alive or not. Oh, poor Horn!"
"I didn't realize it was you," I said. "But
within a couple of hours she'll know for sure."
More than anything, though, Helen was disturbed
by those extra hours her mother must endure.
Jack HcCallum suggested that because of
Helen's condition we might try to take her out
by helicopter or dog sled. But there were no
copters nearby, and dogs would take time. I felt
Helen must get medical treatment immediately.
"I'll take you out piggyback," I told her. "But
it'll be tough for you."
She smiled wanly. "I'm all right Thank you."
Why tho Crash Occurred
Slowly we began to piece together the story of
her fight for survival. To save travel money,
Helen had bought passage with Flores, who was
headed for a new job. As they flew over a 4,200
foot mountain, Flores was checking a faltering
radio beam when his center fuel tank went dry,
and as he reached over to switch on the front tank,
a wing caught a tree top, and the plane careened
through a snare of heavy branches.
Helen guessed she was unconscious about half
an hour. "When I came to, my foot was stuck in
wreckage. I just turned around and said, 'Ralph,
get up.' Blood was all over the place." Then she
added proudly: "But I didn't panic."
It was seven or eight hours before Flores re
gained consciousness, but when he did he took
charge of survival needs with a firm hand. He
constructed a brush-lined shelter with the plane's
cowling and salvaged matches, chisel, and cloth
ing. Weeks later, the two moved their camp to a
clearing where they knew they could be spotted
more easily from the air. They had two cans of
fruit salad, two cans of sardines, and a box of
crackers. In a week, that supply was gone.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "You
haven't eaten in six weeks !"
"Well," Helen said, "we did have two tubes of
toothpaste, too."
"What kept you alive?"
Helen thought a moment. "It was Ralph's Bible.
First, I read Thoreau's "Walden.' Then Ralph
gave me his Bible. I read both the Old and New
Testaments. Whenever I'd begin to lose hope,
Ralph would have me read the Bible. His faith set
the example for me to follow."
Six weeks after the crash, Flores realized he
must gamble. The winds had carried what Flores
apparently thought were the sounds of a nearby
sawmill, so he set out to find it; if unsuccessful,
he was determined to try for the Alcan Highway
60 miles away.
Enroute he stopped to track out the SOS I had
seen. It had taken him three days and left him so
exhausted he could travel only about a mile a day.
"Weren't you frightened when Ralph had to
leave you alone?" we asked.
"No," Helen replied simply. "He left me his
Bible when he set off."
I don't think I yet fully appreciated the deep
spiritual experience I was involved in. Hy Im-
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The plane carrying
Helen and Ralph
went down near
Watson Lake on its
way to Fort St. John.
mediate problem was to lift Helen on my back
without hurting her and trudge off on the un
wieldy snowshoes.
The exertion, combined with bitter cold, made
each step a conscious effort. We slogged over and
under windfalls, slipped along icy slopes. Hy grip
cut off circulation in Helen's already pain-racked
legs. But she never uttered a cry. The burden of
her weight, though, numbed my hips every half
hour or so, and I would have to stop and lower her
as gently as possible to the snow. I'm afraid it
wasn't always as gentle as I hoped, and I would
see Helen's pretty face wince in pain. But then
she would smile warmly and say something to cut
off my apologies.
It was during these agonizing two or three
hours that I began to understand the special
strength of Helen Klaben and how it had grown in
this seemingly God-forsaken wilderness.
Flores and Helen had thought they had heard
at least 40 planes flying near their camps. Each
time, hope would set their emotions soaring. Then
the sound would fade, and in the silent mountains
they would plunge to near despair.
TIm Answer to m Doubt
"I couldn't understand," Helen said. "Why was
God keeping us here so long 7" Each time hope
rose and fell, the question was repeated. At first
there was no answer. Then, as Helen read the
Bible, the answer slowly evolved, and when the
ordeal ended, Helen could say:
"Ralph and I needed time to think over our
lives and understand ourselves better. That's why
God kept us there so long."
By the time we reached the Super Cub and then
flew to Aeroplane Lake, the others in the rescue
party already had brought out Flores. We found
them in a warm cabin. They had moose sand
wiches and tea ready.
She hadn't eaten in six weeks, but when she
saw Flores, all she could do was to keep thanking
him for giving her not only life but something
that made life meaningful. They clasped each
other and again thanked God. Helen turned to me.
"Chuck, if there is anything I can do for you,
let me know. Please, let me try to thank you."
As I said before, helping people in distress is
something everybody does up here, not as heroism
but just because it is our way of life. A "thank
you" is a good reward. In Helen Klaben's case,
though, I think all of us in that cabin could have
thanked her. Just sharing what she experienced
in those seven lost weeks was something to think
about when she said:
"I'm lucky. Now I've learned what I have to do
with life, what my work Is, what faith is faith
in God."