Property owner goes out with a party

Robert Bibby faces loss with grim humor, regret

GARLAND CITY, Ark.—A Garland City property owner and some friends held a river rising party in an effort to celebrate life and look at the positive side of what the owner described as a “total loss.”

Robert Bibby, who lives with his wife Eunice, on the river side east of the levee, said they stay at the property on the river about six months out of the year and spend the rest in a two-sto-

ry home they own in Liberty City, Texas. Bibby said the Garland City property was mainly for hunting and fishing, since he is now retired.

Bibby and several friends and locals were having a fish fry at his home, where water was beginning to creep up to the steps of a single-wide trailer, also owned by Bibby, just a few yards from the house. Bibby said the trailer would be a total loss and would “go down the Red like a missile.”

“I always wanted an indoor swimming pool,” Bibby joked, before adding that “in all seriousness, I hate it, but I can't do anything about it.”

The party, according to Bibby and his friends, was a show of support in what they believe will be a total loss of the home by Monday or Tuesday. Bibby said he had already gotten all of his belongings packed up and moved out and just wanted to stick around and watch the river rise, much to the chagrin of emergency management personnel, who were strongly recommending that everyone east of the levee evacuate.

“These locals have been great—Johnny-on-the-spot in helping me out and getting things moved,” Bibby said. “I've gotta be the captain and go down with the ship.”

Bibby said he and his wife had built the home about eight years ago and that home and business owners are not able to obtain insurance inside of the levee because of flood hazards.

With a smile, Bibby said he's just happy to be alive and vowed to rebuild on his property sooner or later.

“One hundred years from now, we'll never know the difference. This will all be forgotten,” he said.

Dottie and Richard Wood, who lived just up the hill from the Bibbys, stopped by the party to bid goodbye before they evacuated.

The couple said they would likely travel in their camper trailer, first to Gulf Shores, Ala., and then Lindale, Texas, for a while.

“We had 11 good years here,” Dottie Wood said.

The Woods said they expect their home will likely be destroyed by the flood sometime early next week as well. But the group of friends remained positive about their misfortunes and looked forward to future travels.

“We retired down here, too,” Richard Wood said. “We had a lot of fun and caught a lot of fish. We'll be back.”

“I always wanted an indoor swimming pool. In all seriousness, I hate it, but I can’t do anything about it.” —Robert Bibby

Staff photo by Evan Lewis Gary Rowland of Texarkana, Ark., talks with a member of the media Saturday in Garland City, Ark. Rowland and others were at the riverside home of Robert Bibby for a final get-together before rising water from the Red River takes the house.

Staff photo by Evan Lewis Carlos Morison and others spend one last get-together Saturday at the riverside home of Robert Bibby in Garland City. Water from the rising Red River began entering a garage on the property earlier in the day, and the group believes Bibby’s home will...