by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Duane Scepaniak of St. Joseph was driving his new red GMC Sierra across the ice on Big Swan Lake near Grey Eagle in Todd County.
“I was driving along just fine,” he said, “but then all of sudden I wasn’t driving anymore. I was sinking. There was a thin spot on that ice and obviously I found it.”
Scepaniak, a retired small-grain farmer in his mid-60s, relived the experience in a Feb. 12 interview with the St. Joseph Newsleader.
On the early afternoon of Jan. 27, Scepaniak and his neighbor and friend, David Walz, decided to go ice-fishing. So they drove to Big Swan Lake, with Scepaniak behind the wheel of the Sierra he’d just purchased, having paid its first payment just the month before.
It was the first time Scepaniak said he had ever fished that lake, although Walz had – once before.
“We were going for the big crappies,” he said. “But we only caught two perch.”
They decided to drive back to shore and then head out to Big Birch Lake to try their luck with sunnies.
Without warning, so suddenly, the truck came to a stop as the men saw ice flying past the truck’s windows.
“Breaking rough ice!” Scepaniak yelled. “We gotta get out!”
Scepaniak had always heard before people die they see their lives flash by in seconds.
“Well, I didn’t have time,” Scepaniak said. “It happened so fast I didn’t have a chance to start reliving anything. I couldn’t believe it was happening, but it was.”
In a split second, he did remember how people have always told him the door of a vehicle won’t open if it’s deep in water.
“I decided to try opening the door,” he said. “Nope. They were right. Wouldn’t open. Trust me, I tried it.”
The men did manage to roll down their windows, and both escaped, crawling onto the back of the truck and then onto the ice. Walz helped pull his buddy out the window because Scepaniak was a little creaky, having recently undergone knee-replacement surgery.
“Yup, I have two new hips and one new knee that was put in four weeks ago,” he said, sighing. “It’s a hard-knock life.”
Luckily, the truck’s wheels came to rest on a sandbar about four feet beneath the surface.
“We were like a couple of squirrels trying to get out of there,” he said. “But we did, and we didn’t get wet. To say going through ice was a surprise? Well, that doesn’t quite sum up the situation! Oh no! We were looking death in the eyes. We thought that, anyway. We were sinking really fast. I was thinking how I’d get the shock of the cold water, then gasping for air, then trying to crawl out of the hole. Surprise? Oh, no. It was traumatizing. That’s what it was.”
Walking to shore, careful to avoid any possible holes in the ice, the men used a cell phone to call for help.
“My wife didn’t believe it,” Scepaniak said. “Then Dave had to yell into the phone at her that we’re not kidding! Then she believed it, and then she thanked God she wasn’t with us.”
The two men managed to retrieve their fishing gear from the sunken truck.
“Even the bait,” he said.
Scepaniak has been driving on ice for decades and never once fell through.
“Ice is not safe anywhere,” he said. “This year, there’s no hard freezes.”
It took a towing company many tries before getting the truck out of its stuck place. It took seven hours and three guys. The truck was a total loss.
“Thank God I had insurance,” he said. “Now, I have a new truck just like the other one.”
During a visit to the junk yard to see his Sierra, Scepaniak grabbed into the glove compartment to retrieve car-insurance documents, a plat book, maps and other papers.
“Yup, they were there alright,” he said with a deadpan chuckle. “There they were, frozen inside a block of ice about 8 by 8.”
Ever since his close call, Scepaniak has been having flashbacks.
“It’s just nuts!” he said. “I swear I need counseling after that. A trauma. I can see it when I close my eyes.”
Back home that day, he was surrounded by hugs and happiness.
“They were so happy I didn’t come home in a black bag,” he said. “So was I. I’m absolutely happy to be alive.”
He and his wife, Jane, have three children and seven grandchildren.
“I have the most loving family you can imagine,” he said.
Scepaniak is happy to be driving his brand-new GMC Sierra.
Will he take it ice-fishing?
“No!” he said, without a pause. “I’ll go ice-fishing. Sure. With a three-wheeler.”
