Dean and Rosaleen Waggenspack

ALLIANCE – Life can change in an instant.

Fortunately, Dean Waggenspack’s life did not end prematurely in 2022 due to a near-death experience in the Virgin Islands.

Instead, after a miraculous rescue, the life coach and his wife Rosaleen have a new appreciation for life and a renewed sense of the good in people.

Following their ordeal, the Daytons co-authored The Ledge and the Abyss: Near Death, Rescue, and the Search for Meaning. The book, published earlier this year, recounts Waggenspack’s hiking accident, the measures taken to save his life, and how he dealt with the experience.

Waggenspack, a graduate of Alliance High School and Mount Union, will appear at the Rodman Public Library on Monday, Sept. 9, at 6:30 p.m. to speak about his ordeal as part of the 2024 Fogle Author Series. Books will be available for sale and the Waggenspacks will sign books following his address.

To participate in the program, you must register at rodmanlibrary.com.

The Waggenspacks were about to enjoy a Thanksgiving getaway on St. Croix with their four grown children when Dean’s life-changing accident occurred.

Dean and Rose, along with their eldest son Stephen, were exploring the island’s activities and decided to check out the tide pools.

The Annaly Bay/Carambola tide pools are a popular tourist destination. The pools are accessed via a 3km walk through a rainforest and appear to be safe and easily accessible. Rose, Dean and Stephen were in one of the tide pools, with water less than 30cm deep, when suddenly three waves came over the rocks. Dean was knocked over and sucked into a small hole. He ended up in a pitch black cave, where he was up to his elbows in water and completely disorientated.

“I was down there and thought I was going to die because I was trapped,” Said Dean. “At some point the tide would come in and I would drown.”

From Rose’s perspective, her husband of nearly 40 years was there one moment and gone the next. After 10 minutes had passed and Dean hadn’t shown up, she and Stephen went for help, thinking their mission was to recover Dean’s remains, not save him.

They managed to find two guides who knew exactly where to look and promised that they would find Dean.

Dean was rescued after being stuck in water up to his chest for 40 minutes. He was suffering from hypothermia, had inhaled and swallowed large amounts of salt water, and had abrasions all over his body.

He was flown by helicopter to Gov. Juan F. Luis Hospital in St. Croix and spent Thanksgiving there, but within 24 hours he was off oxygen, able to sit upright, and able to hold conversations with loved ones.

The Waggenspacks’ outlook on life has been changed by this ordeal and they discuss the effects in their book. All proceeds from the sale will be donated to the hospital where Dean recovered.