Mark Hadlich
Interviewed by Lisa Lewis-Spicer

Mark Hadlich, part of the family owned Aaker's Business College, suffered a great many personal and business flood losses with stoic equanimity. He was interviewed by Lisa Lewis-Spicer at his home at 722 Reeves Drive on June 2, 1997.

LISA: Well, Mark, have you had nightmares about the flood?

MARK: No. Not a one. Nope. No nightmares, no sirens going off, no anything like that. In a disaster like this everybody has their moments. The biggest moment for me was when my father passed away. I was commuting at that time from my mother's lake cottage into Grand Forks, because there was no heat and there was no water. In my dad's office in his home in Grand Forks he had a mounted wood duck. As a kid I always remembered seeing that wood duck hanging on the wall. It was beautiful bird. The day my father died, as I was going in the car to come to Grand Forks to muck out the house, there was a wood duck that was perched in a tree right above my car. I walked out to my car and I heard this wood duck quack, chirp, or whatever, and I looked up at that wood duck and the wood duck bobbed its head at me and flew off. I remember telling myself, well, I think it's going to be a better day. I think things are gonna start looking up. that's a good sign. Ducks are migrating back. It's a pretty duck. Then when I went into town and I heard that my father had passed away, I remembered that wood duck and it was kind of like, in a strange way, my father coming back as a wood duck, kind of like saying good-bye and flying off into the wilderness. I remember that was a real powerful moment. I don't know if it was a symbol of everything, but everything around us was kind of passing.

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