Raba family donates to museum

IN MEMORY OF DAD – Jay Hendrickson, right, receives a donation from the family of Gabriel Raba, who died last month at 100-plus years of age. Raba signed up for the CCC in 1934 and helped build many of the physical landmarks that are still standing in the Black Hills. From the left are Raba’s children, Tim Raba, Janice Overby, Tom Raba and Cynthia Horning. [Submitted photo]

The family of Gabriel John Raba has made a donation in their father’s name to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Museum of South Dakota located in Hill City.
Gabiel Raba, who lived in New Underwood, died Jan. 3, 2012, at the age of 100, five months and 15 days. A memorial was established to the CCC Museum.
Raba signed up for the CCC in 1934 and was assigned to Camp Este near Nemo. He worked on projects at Dalton Lake and various other projects in the Northern Black Hills, according to family members. He was born in Selby on the homestead of his maternal grandparents, the third child in a family of 10 children. Gabriel attended West Spring Valley School through the eighth grade and then helped work on the family farm, raising horses, cattle and large flocks of turkeys, which they shipped away in barrels on the train. He trapped enough skunks as a youngster to buy a pocket watch, which still runs.
At Camp Este, Gabriel helped build the ski slide at Dalton Lake and made improvements all over the northern Black Hills, including building a passageway through Stage Barn Caverns near Piedmont so it could be seen by the general public. After leaving the CCC, he worked as a hired man in the area of Elk Creek Road and in 1946 moved to New Underwood.
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