Reader's Digest Australia Feb/Mar 2026

pipe fitter to ski instructor—found work as a foreman with amarine engineering company. The plan was to return to Idaho regularly to keep working on the houses until they could re-retire. Morris and Roop had always loved hiking, and they couldn’t resist the lure of Alaska’s natural beauty. This past May 24—Saturday of Memorial Day weekend—they wanted to avoid the holiday crowds on the Kenai Peninsula, an area containing part of Seward that juts out from the coast of southcentral Alaska. Instead, they decided to hike to the GodwinGlacier via an undeveloped, isolated trail. They would follow Fourth of July Creek up to Godwin Creek, which is lined with boulders deposited by the glacier. They loaded their backpacks with what they’d need for the day— snacks, water, dry clothes.The tempera- ture was just under 50 degrees when they left home around 8 a.m. and was forecast to rise to 55—one of the warm- est days of the year so far in Seward. “If we make it to the glacier, great. But if we don’t, we don’t,” Morris said as they set out. “We’ll have a great day out either way.” They walked for a couple of miles, followed some fresh moose and bear On a warm spring day, the couple went hiking along Godwin Creek. 80 reader ’ s digest JOANNA ROOP tracks, then took a break a little before 11 a.m. to watch a newborn mountain goat and its mama. “It’s not even up and walking yet,” Roop whispered. When they got moving again, the creek narrowed and the current became faster. Morris and Roopwent in separate directions in search of a safe place to cross. Morris didn’t want to walk below some unstable-looking boulders, so he made his way up the steep canyon, get- ting high enough to walk above them. Just as he feared, the boulders were loose. Morris was directly above them when they started to slide down the slope. The smaller rocks he was walking on gave way as well. “I didn’t see anything,” he recalls. “I have no visual memory at all. But the sound will probably be withme forever.” It all happened in an instant. Morris tumbled about 20 feet and landed face down in the water. The boulder that came down behind him surely would have crushed him if not for the fact that several other large rocks had landed right beside him and absorbed most of the impact of that big daddy. Lying in the creek, Morris did a quick self-assessment. Yes, I’m alive. Yes, I have feeling in my limbs. But I’m stuck. I can’t move my left leg at all, and I’m pinned down under something. “Help! Help!” he yelled. Minutes later, Roop found him. now, fearing that her husband didn’t have long to live, Roop didn’t want to leave him alone. But she was desperate to call for help. She walked about 300 yards to the first curve in the creek, where she had a decent line of sight down the valley. She tried her phone. To her amaze- ment, the 911 call went through. Roop knew the dispatcher who answered. “Evan, it’s Officer Roop. Kell is stuck in the river under a big boulder with his leg crushed. I need a helicopter, and I need it now!” While Roop made her way back to her husband, 22-year-old Sam Paper- man was driving home from a morning shift leading dogsled tours across the local glaciers for Turning Heads Ken- nel. His employers—Iditarod veterans Sarah Stokey and Travis Beals—also own Seward Helicopter Tours, and Paperman is a volunteer with the neigh- boring Bear Creek Fire Department. He was the right person in the right place at the right time when the dispatch notification from the Seward Fire Department hit his phone: “Please respond to a search and rescue on a male individual who is trapped under a boulder in the creek.” Paperman had hiked the rugged Godwin Creek plenty of times and knew that it was nearly impossible to access by truck or even all-terrain vehicle. So he called the airport manager at Seward Helicopter Tours and got approval to turn one of their choppers into a rescue vehicle for the day. Then he called the Seward Fire Department. “We have two helicopters,” Paperman february/march 2026 | readersdigest.com.au 81 Drama in Real Life