Living the golden rule

Helping friends in crisis just what neighbors do

By Lynn Taylor Rick, Journal staff | Thursday, December 04, 2008

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For Bill Mammel and his neighbors, being neighborly means much more than waving hello from an adjacent yard.  

When Mammel broke his hip two months ago, his neighbors, Brad and Monna Hatle and Rich and Linda Larsen, stepped in to ensure that Mammel and his wife, Mary, could stay in their home.

The Larsens and Hatles do the couple’s grocery shopping and yard work, give Mammel rides to doctors’ appointments and haircuts and stop by daily to play cards or just visit.

For the friends, the situation doesn’t seem all that unusual — just what neighbors do in a crisis.

The Mammels built their home nine miles north of Rapid City about 15 years ago. The Hatles already had a home in the development. Three years later, the Larsens moved in.

Over the years, Mammel cleared his neighbors’ driveways, baby-sat family pets and helped out with yard work. The neighbors returned the favors, helping out in the yard and with projects.

“He started coming over and helping me with projects, and it’s just kind of trading back and forth,” Rich Larsen said.

Monna Hatle said Mammel always kept the ditches mowed and the area looking nice. Since they were retired, Bill and Mary also kept an eye on the homes. And when the Hatles’ kids came home from school, the Mammels were always there for them.

Mary Mammel loved to spoil the neighborhood kids, especially at Easter and Halloween, Monna Hatle said. “It was always a comfort to know they were

here,” Monna said. “Brad and I kind of adopted them as grandparents.”

Larsen said the Mammels’ neighborliness knew no bounds. Bill frequently cleared a path to the family’s barn, took garbage cans in so they wouldn’t blow away and picked up the newspaper for the family — all without being asked.

“You don’t find people like that any more,” he said of Mammel.

Since his injury, however, Mammel hasn’t been able to help out. He’s wheelchair-bound and can’t get outside. Since Mary is also housebound, the couple faced a tough future.

“We were in a bad spot, and boy, here they come. They took over and they do anything and everything for us,” Mammel said. “In my wicked life, I must have done something right to deserve something like this.”

Jolene Wilson, a home health physical therapist at Rapid City Regional Hospital who has cared for Mammel since his return home, calls the situation extraordinary. “It’s pretty rare,” she said. 

When Mammel first arrived home, he couldn’t transfer himself from a chair to his bed, or even manage bathroom needs alone, she said. Because Mary was unable to help him, the only alternative would have been a nursing home.

“Without the neighbors, we could not have admitted him to home health care,” Wilson said. “I was amazed that these neighbors would take this on.”

To the Larsens and the Hatles, their actions don’t seem particularly grand. They’re just doing what the Mammels would do for them if the situation were reversed.

But to the Mammels, the actions are obviously huge. 

“If it weren’t for them, we’d be in a nursing home. No doubt about it,” Mammel said. “It’s really something.”

Contact Lynn Taylor Rick at lynn.taylorrick@rapidcityjournal.com or 394-8414.