Friday, October 21, Catholic Social Services presented the Msgr. O’Connell Founder’s Award and three St. Benedict awards to people who served Rapid City during the June 9, 1972, Rapid City Flood. Executive Director of Catholic Social Services, Jim Kinyon and CSS Board President Richard Rangel presented out the awards.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the night Canyon Lake Dam broke after hours of heavy rain. The ensuing wall of water killed 238 people. The Msgr. O’Connell Founders Award went to Ozzie Osheim, a funeral director. He said he was blessed to know Msgr. O’Connell from when he was ordained in 1957 until his death in 2015. Osheim recalled, with gratitude, the 55 funeral directors from S.D. and the surrounding states who came to Rapid City and volunteered their time to help Rapid City funeral homes.

The first Benedictine Award went to Deloris Catron, who with her late husband Dennis, ran Catron Funeral Home, later Osheim Catron Funeral Home. She is also a former CSS board president.

“The best thing that our board ever did was to hire this man (Jim Kinyon), he’s already given us 30 years of his life and did a fantastic job of making Catholic Social Services what it is today,” she said.

Chief Master Sergeant Keelan Rasmusson accepted the second Benedictine award on behalf of the Ellsworth Air Force men and women who were called to help in the wake of the flood. He noted some of the citizens who died in the flood were from the airbase. Air Force personnel helped clean up, maintain public safety and rebuild the city.

Col. Martin R. Yost accepted the award for the 2,000 S. D. National Guard soldiers who were at Camp Rapid for training at that time. They were called to duty because of the flood. “The greatest achievement and honor they have is to serve our citizens. So, thank you for honoring them,” he said.

At the end of the evening, Kinyon explained his personal connection to the disaster. He said, “My dad was in the Air Force at the time. He was immediately deployed from Ellsworth to assist with the recovery. He was in a big flat bottom boat going down the stream around the community helping rescue people from rooftops.”