Notes

Tragic Boating Accident:

Almost Wipes out an Entire Family

Contributed by, and with a starring role:  Darlene Roaten Mauch

Front Page news on May 10, 1954

  

Bit of Cork Keeps Girl Alive In 8-Mile Fight With River

Sandbar Swept From Beneath Family of 5

James S. Roaten, still a little weary and a little drawn, put it simply. He said, “God wasn’t ready for us to go yet.”

Roaten, 33, machinist and avid boater, of 3445 Holly Circle in Whitehaven, is head of the family of five which narrowly escaped death in the bone-chilling Mississippi River yesterday.

The whole family, except the youngest son, Michael, 4½, was pulled from the icy waters after spending several hours praying and waiting for help.

Darlene, 10, was lost from her mother, 31, and brother, Robert, 8, and spent three and a half hours in the cold water. She floated on her back most of the time, holding on to a small piece of cork-like wood from a life jacket.

The whole family went under water at 2 p.m. yesterday in the Mississippi River about two miles below Tennessee Chute as they pushed their stranded motorboat off a submerged sand bar.

Sandbar “Faded”

Mr. Roaten said the sandbar suddenly dropped from under them, leaving them splashing in water over their heads.

“It was like the floor falling out from under you – no bottom,” he said.

In the next horrifying few hours, in which all thought they would drown, Mr. Roaten said God did these things to save their lives:

1.     Enabled Michael, the only one in the boat which was speeding off, to cut off the motor, something he had never done before.

2.     Enabled Darlene to learn how to float on her back, something she had never done before, thus saving her life.

3.     After two hours in the water, exhausted, gave Mr. Roaten new strength, enabling him to swim to the boat.

“I know one thing for sure,” Mr. Roaten said, “You’ll find me in church next Sunday. And anything my family wants me to do, I’ll do it.”

Mr. Roaten said he spent two fruitless hours swimming toward the boat, but it seemed to be going farther away.  He swam in circles, and would be whirled in circles by the tricky river currents.

Strength Came to Him

“Finally, after I had prayed,” Mr. Roaten said, “new strength surged thru my body. Suddenly I wasn’t tired.  The boat was 150 yards away. I had been trying to get to it for two hours.

“I began swimming. I had never had to swim like this before in my life. But here I was swimming, making headway this time. Every stroke I took seemed to bring me closer, and for every stroke I took it seemed like the boat was taking one. That was the feeling I had after praying to God and feeling his answer.”

Mr. Roaten said “the real hero is Michael. He turned the motor off and pushed the siren. If he hadn’t turned off the motor, we might all have drowned. But that saved us.  I was able to reach the boat and pick up my wife and Bobby.”

Mr. Roaten said when he got to the boat, he took off in the direction of the sandbar they had been hung on. He said he was Bobby first and picked him up.

“He was blue all over. He said, “Daddy, I’ve been praying for you. I don’t know where mother is.” ”

Mr. Roaten found her a short distance away and picked her up. She, too, was cold and stiff and blue from the freezing water.

Both had kept afloat by the life jackets.

“We frankly didn’t have much hope for Darlene,” said Mr. Roaten. “When the sand bar fell out from under us, I scrambled to the boat and threw out two life jackets, one to my wife and one to Bobby. I didn’t have time to throw one to Darlene. I just picked up a piece out of the life jacket and threw it to her.

“It was a piece of cork-like wood, one inch thick, four inches wide and eight inches long. They put about eight of those in a child’s life jacket, so you can see it wasn’t much help to her.”

Mr. Roaten took his wife, Bobby and Michael to shore and Mrs. Roaten drove to the home of a cousin. Mr. Roaten, meantime, sounded the alarm and several other boats joined in the search.

At 5:30 p.m., an hour later, Mr. Roaten was hailed by a tow boat and barge. He was told the tow boat had picked up a girl floating in the water. It was eight miles below the point she had first fallen in at. The current had swept her that far downstream in the three and a half hours.

“Is she dead or alive?” Mr. Roaten shouted.

“Alive,” came the reply.

“Thank God for that,” he whispered.

Towboat Saved Her

Mr. Roaten later learned Darlene had been plucked from the murky waters by the towboat “Zephyr” out of St. Louis. At first deck hands thought she might be dead, her body was so blue and stiff.

She began reviving, was given medical treatment by Dr. Charles Clarke, who was at the Yacht Club when the alarm was sounded and joined the search.

The girl was brought to shore and rushed to McLemore Clinic in the Jack Ruby ambulance. The rest of the family were also hospitalized there, all suffering exposure. Their condition today was satisfactory.

Feeling “all right” and able to talk today, Darlene said, “for a long time I didn’t think anyone would come to pick me up.”

Darlene said she floated on her back most of the time.

“I have never floated before,” she said. “I knew I would have to. I learned how. I held on to the piece of wood out of the life jacket with my left hand.

“When my father picked up Bobby and Mother I saw them. But I was a long way off. I hollered to them, “Help!” But they couldn’t hear me. They left.

“I thought then I wouldn’t be saved. Every time a plane passed over, I would raise my head level with the water, hoping it was a boat. I prayed it would come and save us all.”

Sunday Holiday

The near-tragic afternoon began after the Roatens attended church yesterday and had dinner out. They took their boat to the river. It is a 17-foot inboard motorboat.

“I’ve been around the water all my life,” Mr. Roaten said. “But I’ve never been in a fix like this before.”

They started out from the south end of McKellar Lake, Mr. Roaten was looking for a friend, Johnny Fuller. Their families on Sundays often played ball together on a sand bar.

He pulled into a cove Mr. Fuller had pointed out to him before. As he did, the boat hit a sandbar. All got out, except Michael, and tried to push it off the bar. They worked frantically for half an hour and finally had the boat in 16 to 18 inch water where it would run.

Mr. Roaten started the motor, and got out to maneuver the boat into position to take off.

“Just as we were ready to get in, the sand bar fell out from under us,” he said.

That was the beginning that almost ended in tragedy.

“But God saved us,” Mr. Roaten firmly believes.

Throwing Her Head Back Did It, Says Expert

Red Cross’ Gene Glaze Says That Is

Vital Step in Trying to Float

That was the beginning that almost ended in tragedy.

Darlene Roaten, 10, owes her life to the fact she “put her head back” and thus was able to float, Gene Glaze, Red Cross director of safety, said today.

Darlene is the little girl who floated eight miles down the swift Mississippi River yesterday after a boating mishap.

She had never floated before and didn’t know how to swim, but taught herself to float after the current swept her downstream.

The fact that Darlene weighs about 100 pounds, and is a chubby little girl, also helped, as did the fact that she was holding a piece of cork-like wood an inch thick, four inches wide and eight inches long.

Mr. Glaze, who was called to the scene and was ready with grappling hooks and other equipment that, fortunately, was not needed, said:

“She had enough support from the cork to help her, but it wouldn’t have kept her up if she had not thrown her head back. That was the important thing.

“We teach in our swimming program floating by throwing the head back and relaxing.  She did just the right thing.”

More Front Page news:

 

Girl, 10, Floats For 10 Miles Clinging To Small Bit Of Cork

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Darlene Roaten Is Rescued By Towboat 23 Miles South Of Memphis After 3½ Hour Nightmare

Family Believed Her Lost When Sand Suddenly Gave Way

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A 10-year-old girl was rescued early last night after floating 10 miles downstream in the turbulent Mississippi River in the terrifying aftermath of a near-disastrous family boating party.

Darlene Roaten was rescued by a passing boat at Cow Island, 23 miles south of the Memphis waterfront, after a 3½ hour nightmare. The entire time she clung to her only support, a fragile piece of cork 6 by 12 inches.

Earlier, disaster had seemed almost certain for five members of the family – all but one of them cast adrift in the Mississippi, and that one a 4-year-old alone in a boat with the motor going. Only the father could swim.

Family Reunited

Early last night, however, the entire family was together at McLemore Clinic, all in good condition, providing a rare happy ending for one of the strangest water accidents in local history.

J. S. Roaten of 3448 Holly Circle, the father, swam nearly two hours to reunite the group when they stepped from a shallow bank into the surging river near Presidents Island.

Mrs. Roaten, from her bed at the clinic, gave this account of the near-tragedy:

Head For Lake

The parents and the three children, Darlene, 10, Bobby, 8, and Michael, 4, got in the family’s 17-foot inboard motorboat at its mooring place at Chinaman’s Camp near Mitchell Street in the Ensley Bottoms. At 1:30 p.m. they set out on the river, traveling upstream towards McKellar Lake. 

Soon they sighted friends on a sand bar, and stopped to visit with them. They then set out again upstream to meet other friends on another bar.

They found themselves grounded on submerged sand. All but the youngest child got out to push the boat off.

There was only six inches of water and it seemed safe. The boat was freed and the father got back in.

Suddenly No Sand

“All of a sudden there was no sand,” said Mrs. Roaten, “and we were in the water. All three of us went different ways.”

Mr. Roaten threw life jackets to his wife and son and the cork to Darlene when he saw little Bobby sinking. This was at about 2 p.m.

“He was only 20 feet away, I thought I could swim to him. When I reached him he was going down and pulled me down. I pushed him away and told him to hold on to the life jacket,” the father said.

Another terror presented itself to the father then, as he saw the boat, with motor going, drifting rapidly away with little Michael. At one point he was within a few feet of the craft but missed it. It took him an hour and a half to reach Michael, who was briskly tooting the siren all the way.

With sinking heart he steered the boat back. He picked up his wife and Bobby – but Darlene was lost.

Racked With Cold

“Daddy I was praying for you,” said Bobby, his whole body temperature lowered nearly five degrees by exposure and racked with cold.

“We spent only five minutes searching for Darlene. I had no hope for her, she was nowhere to be seen. I was worried about Bobby. I thought any delay would jeopardize his life,” the father said.

He took his family to the boat camp. They were then taken to the hospital, leaving the father free to return to search for his missing girl. He was accompanied by three men.

Meanwhile a pleasure craft, an auxiliary Coast Guard craft, was being taken for a run by owner Troy Denton. Mr. Denton’s attention was attracted to the shore where men were signaling him to stop.

They were two sheriff’s deputies and two men from the American Ambulance Service who had learned of the accident through Mrs. Roaten.

Got Radio Message

Mr. Denton picked them up. They had grappling hooks with them. All went downstream seeking the child.

Within a few minutes they heard a radio message from the St. Louis Zephyr, a towboat, that the child had been sighted and believed dead. This was altered to “alive” in a few minutes.

They sped downstream to the Zephyr, transferred the shivering chubby girl from that towboat to the speedy Denton boat, the Ida Lee, and bore her safely back to the Memphis Yacht Club.  She was met by a Jack Ruby ambulance and taken to the hospital to join her family.

“Scared” Darlene Tells Of Battle With Big River

Ten-year-old Darlene Roaten said after she and a piece of cork half the size of a cigar box fought a winning battle with the Mississippi River yesterday: 

“I was scared a little”.

The little freckle-faced girl was set afloat in the treacherous Mississippi river with her parents and brother when currents swept away a sandbar.

The cork, used in life preservers, cheated death for Darlene. For, three-and-a-half hours later, clinging to it, she was pulled from the choppy water.

Darlene Roaten is a shy little girl. She has brown hair and blue eyes. Bravery won the Whitehaven fourth grader some kind of endurance record yesterday. And she didn’t cry.

“What did you do to pass the time?”  She was asked last night at McLemore Clinic.

“I floated,” was the reply, then that shy grin.

Darlene yelled repeatedly for help during the ordeal. She kicked her feet in vain attempts to fight the current. She strangled a few times on the water. And she prayed.

“I prayed that I would get out of there and that God would help Daddy, Mother, and Bobby get out, too,” Darleen recalled. “I kept saying it over and over.”

At 8:10 p.m., six hours after the mishap, Darlene, wearing slacks and a tee shirt, was wheeled into her mother’s room at the clinic.

The mother dropped to her knees and smothered the child momentarily. She looked up, brushing a tear with an outstretched finger, “Hi, darling,” she said.

“Hi, Mom,” came the reply, and that grin again.

News one week later, May 17, 1954:

Tears of Happiness as Roatens Attend Church

The James S. Roaten family, 3345 Holly Circle, sat on a front pew in Brooks Avenue Baptist Church yesterday.

The Roaten family plans to be in church every Sunday from now on.

The Sunday before, all except one member of the family, a 4-year-old boy, were in the Mississippi River, facing death.

The family feels that God answered their prayers and saved their lives. They are grateful. The parents joined the church yesterday, and say church will play a leading role in their lives from now on.

Mr. Roaten prayed Sunday, May 9, when a sandbar crumbled under the family as they were freeing their boat from the bar. He prayed – asking God to spare the lives of his wife and children. Other members of the family prayed – asking that the lives of their loved ones be spared.

Those prayers were answered, the Roatens feel, in miraculous ways.

Mrs. Roaten yesterday wept softly as her family joined with the congregation in singing “Jesus Saves.”  But the tears were tears of happiness, and she held a gold-edged Bible in her hand.

Another hymn was sung, “Higher Ground.”  It seemed very appropriate to the Roaten family, as the congregation sang “Lord, lift me up, plant my feet on higher ground.”

Four-year-old Michael sat in his father’s lap, big eyes taking in everything. It was little Michael who cut off the motor of the racing boat after the sandbar collapsed, leaving his parents, brother and sister in the water. He had never cut off the motor before. How did he know what to do?

Mr. Roaten also held a Bible. But there was something else in his hand – a small plastic bag containing the scant two ounces of kapok, the substance Darlene, 10, clutched during three and half hours when she floated eight miles down the Mississippi. She had never floated before.

Darlene and Robert, 8, sat beside their parents, listening to the pastor, Rev. Ralph H. Hovy. All five heads were bowed, eyes closed, when the preacher prayed.

Rev. Hovy’s scripture was from the 6^th Chapter of Judges.

“Must man ask God, why?  Must man always believe he should know the answers to life?”  Mr. Hovy asked.

You heard the words. You looked at young Michael, now asleep in his father’s arms. You could ask  “how” he turned of the motor. You looked at the piece of kapok. You could ask how Darlene did it. Then you recalled the preacher’s words, “It is not in God’s plan for us to know all the answers – that is why we need faith and prayer. Thy will, not mine be done.”

A week before the Roatens had faith.

Then yesterday Mr. and Mrs. Roaten came forward and accepted Christ as their Savior.

Mr. Roaten’s arm was about his wife’s waist as they stood before the congregation.

“I’ve never been so close to God,” Mr. Roaten said. “But last Sunday afternoon, after the sandbar slipped from under us, I thought of God a lot. I couldn’t say much, but I repeated all Brother Hovy’s sermon I could recall – and prayed.”

The Roatens had been to church for the first time as a family the Sunday of the near-tragedy. But church meant much more to them on their second visit yesterday.

J. J. Roaten, Paris, Tenn., father of James S. Roaten, went with them.

After church, members of the congregation filed past, shaking hands with the Roatens, saying such things as “Glad you are here today.”

“We’ll be back – every Sunday,” Mr. Roaten said.