Four years after the flood: Robin and Rich Mustion’s cabin was well away from any flood risk. Or so they thought. 


For retired Gainesville teacher Robin Mustion and her husband, Rich, their cabin on Bryant Creek, upstream from Warren Bridge, was a sanctuary, a place to grieve and heal after the death of their 15-year-old son, Ted, in November 1997. 

Above: Four years ago this week, Robin and Rich Mustion led their horses Jackie and T.J. out of their corral and turned them loose on the road behind their cabin as the couple fled the rising floodwaters of Bryant Creek during the historic flood of April 29-30, 2017.

Left: The Mustions’ only child, Ted, shown here with service dog Bear, was born in 1982 with neurological disability issues. He maneuvered in a wheelchair and later learned to speak with the aid of a computer keyboard and synthesized voice.

Editor’s note: This week marks the four-year anniversary of an historic flood that devastated parts of Ozark County on the weekend of April 29-30, 2017. In this two-part story, retired Gainesville teacher Robin Mustion and her husband, Rich, share the story of how the flood changed their lives.

 

Four years ago tomorrow, on April 29, 2017, Robin and Rich Mustion were enjoying a quiet Saturday morning breakfast in their cozy Ozark County cabin while closely watching the weather forecast that was predicting flooding rains for the Ozarks. Their three huge Great Danes, Maxine, Maybelle and Crosby, slept peacefully beside them. In their coop out back, their chickens did what chickens do, and in a nearby corral, the Mustions’ horses, Jackie and T.J., waited for their morning grain. 

The couple had no idea that, within a few hours, their lives would be turned upside down by an Ozark County flood like no one living had ever seen.

Their comfortable cabin was a sanctuary on Bryant Creek that they had bought as a place to get away from the city, a place to grieve and heal after the death of their 15-year-old son, Ted, in November 1997. 

Robin and Rich lived and worked in Kansas City for 30 years, but Robin has deep roots in the Ozarks. Her father, Arnold Caplinger, grew up near Siloam Springs and was one of the first people to recognize the value of Hammond Mill Camp, a rustic and popular camp in what is now the Mark Twain National Forest on CC Highway southeast of Dora. 

The camp was created in 1937 to house men in the Civilian Conservation Corps as they worked on projects in this area. The site was abandoned when the CCC program ended in 1942, and the camp stood empty until the Rev. Neal Jantz stepped in and worked to remake the facility into a Bible camp and gathering / event site. 

Jantz organized the first Bible camp there in 1948, eventually negotiating a long-term lease for the property with the U.S. Forest Service. Robin’s father, Arnold Caplinger, and one of his brothers met with Jantz early on and made a deal that their extended family, which included 10 siblings and their families, would be allowed to use the camp every first weekend of July for an annual reunion, beginning in 1950, in exchange for working to help maintain the camp.

As a result, Robin, now 66, grew up attending what became yearly, week-long family reunions at the camp, which became a cherished place of love and laughter for her and her many relatives. Today, she serves as president of the Hammond Mill Camp, Inc., board of directors that oversees the nonprofit camp’s operations and schedule. 

Her family’s reunion would have marked its 70th year in 2020, but the gathering was canceled due to covid concerns. Until then, Robin had only missed the reunion twice due to health and family issues. 

 

‘A place for my soul to heal’

After growing up in West Plains, Robin’s career and marriage took her to Kansas City, where she worked as principal in a state school for students with severe disabilities. 

Their only child, Ted, was born in 1982 with neurological issues that impacted his muscle coordination. As he grew older, Ted moved around in a wheelchair with the assistance of a service dog, Bear, and he spoke with the assistance of a computer keyboard and synthesized voice. 

Bear became Ted’s beloved and constant companion. When he was hospitalized for spinal fusion surgery, Bear was allowed to accompany him. A story published in the Kansas City Star included an Associated Press photo of Ted in his hospital bed with Bear sleeping contentedly on the bed beside him.

Despite his disability, Ted, like his mother, felt peace and joy when he was at his family’s annual reunion at Hammond Mill Camp. 

“It was a wonderful place for him because in life he was so different. But camp was a place where he was totally accepted and loved by all his family. Everyone loved Ted. That’s not the case with a lot of children who have challenges,” Robin said.  

Tragically, Ted died in 1997 at age 15 after suffering a stroke. 

Reeling after the impossible loss, Robin fled the Kansas City area and spent two summers in a trailer parked on 5 acres she and Rich had bought alongside Bryant Creek, not too far from Hammond Mill Camp. 

In 2004, the Mustions bought a cabin on the Bryant, upstream from Warren Bridge. They traveled from Kansas City almost every weekend to spend time at the cabin. Then, one day, Robin told Rich, “I can’t do it anymore. I can’t go back and keep doing this job.” 

Robin resigned from her job at the state school and moved to the cabin. Rich traveled for a few years with his job in information technology before beginning his own business working from home. Robin was hired as a special education teacher in the Gainesville Schools, where she worked until she retired in 2017. 

“We loved it,” Robin said. “The river has always been a place for my soul to heal. God’s beautiful creation brings peace with the constant flow of water.” 

But she also knew the river’s ability to destroy. The earlier trailer they had parked on the first 5 acres they owned had “floated away” during one of the Bryant’s high-water episodes.

Over the years, they had watched the water come up into the field below their cabin and sometimes into their yard, but it never got into the cabin. After all, the cabin  was a good 350 yards away from the river, well away from any risk of floods.  

Or so they thought. 

 

Fleeing in the night

As Robin and Rich went about their day that morning of April 29, 2017, they were preparing for high water but had no idea that within 24 hours or so, their beloved cabin, their sanctuary, would be filled with rushing water 54 inches deep as the Bryant – and the nearby North Fork of the White River – swelled to unbelievable depths and swept over their banks, destroying everything in their paths during what some called a 1,000-year flood. 

Throughout the day Saturday, as the rain continued to fall, the Mustions watched with concern as the river continued to rise at a rapid rate. It seemed impossible that the water could ever reach their cabin, so far from the Bryant’s normal banks. Yet it inched ever closer. 

Around 4:30 p.m., with the water at the bottom step of their deck and county roads quickly deteriorating, Robin and Rich knew they had to leave.   

They packed what they could into Rich’s truck. They moved the chickens, in crates, to higher ground and put them “up on blocks on a table,” Robin said. They turned their horses loose and herded them up the hill on the road behind the cabin. Then Robin loaded the three huge Great Danes into her Tahoe SUV. 

Rushing to get away from the rising water, they drove up their road, only to find that a neighbor had parked two vehicles in the roadway. They would have to drive around them in the soft roadside mud.

“Just drive, and don’t stop for any reason,” Rich told Robin as they set out in the still-pouring rain.  Their goal was the intersection at the top of the hill where they had waited out high water a couple of times before … for an hour or two,

But after spending a few hours at the top of the hill without any break in the relentless rain and lightning, their goal became Hammond Mill Camp, where Robin knew they could take temporary shelter in one of the cabins. 

“We had plenty of friends who would have welcomed us,” said Robin. “But you don’t just move in with someone when you’re bringing along three Great Danes. I knew if we could get to the camp, we would be OK.” 

 But to get to Hammond Mill Camp, they had to get across the Bryant and also the North Fork. And both rivers, they knew, were roiling with floodwaters.

 

To be continued in next week’s Times.

Ozark County Times

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