A rooster crows at 4:30 a.m. on a Friday. No, this isn’t a farm. It’s at the Good Samaritan Society in central Sioux Falls.
Several months ago, Ralph the Rooster wandered into the yard of the senior living center at 2nd and Minnesota, and he’s been the residents’ best friend since.
“We’re so attached to him now,” resident Peggy Nyhaug said. “We don’t want anyone to take him away from us.”
Ralph wandered in at the end of the summer, beginning of fall. Staff members started feeding him and he kept coming back. They originally planned to take Ralph to a farm, but they never could catch him, so they let him stay.
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Nyhaug first heard him crowing one morning and thought, “What in the world?” But Ralph quickly became the talk of the town at the long-term living facility.
The dining room windows overlook the yard where Ralph hangs out, and throughout the day, residents and staff walk or wheel over to the window to see what Ralph is doing.
And every morning, he’s there greeting the residents who are up before the sunrise. Sometimes, he wanders off or goes into the parking lot, but he always comes back.
Ralph brings back fond memories of home for residents
“The residents just love Ralph,” Good Sam administrator Luke Wanous said. “We pride ourselves on being a family here, and a lot of the residents grew up on farmland, so he reminds them of home. Seeing the light in their eyes brings so much joy. It truly is the little things in life, and we’re thankful for Ralph for being a part of our little community.”
Resident Elmer Somerfield grew up taking care of 200 chickens. Having Ralph around brings him fond memories of being on the farm near Worthington, where his family sold eggs to locals, he said.
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Somerfield’s been giving the staff tips on how to take care of Ralph, like what to feed him.
Ralph eats corn, oatmeal, rooster feed, and even the occasional freshly tossed salad of cabbage, lettuce and tomato, or sometimes scrambled eggs −yes, eggs.
“They’re his favorite,” Nyhaug said.
Nyhaug and Somerfield sit near the dining room windows every day. At first, Ralph wouldn’t go near anyone, but over time, he warmed up to the crowd and sits right in front of the window for people to admire.
“He trusts us now,” Somerfield said.
How Ralph the rooster became Ralph
The name Ralph just came up one day and sort of stuck, a staff member said, and they’ll sometimes call him Ralphie as a nickname. One resident said he reminded her of her dad, who was also named Ralph and also had red hair. Another resident, Darlene Peterson, made the “trip” up, all the way from downstairs to see Ralph for the first time.
“That’s all I’ve been hearing about,” she said as she came upstairs. Once she was rolled up to the window, she said, “Oh, he’s beautiful….He’s fat, too,” she added with a laugh.
Ralph finds a new home in the nativity set, bares the cold weather
When it first started getting cold, the staff put out a dog kennel for Ralph, but he wouldn’t use it. Instead he chose to sleep in the facility’s nativity set, nuzzled up in the hay near the three Wise Men or in the manger.
When Sioux Falls had intense wind chills before Christmas, the first thing the residents would ask the staff when they woke up was, “Did Ralph make it?” And he did, despite a little frostbite on the tips of his feathers.
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The staff went and bought a couple heat lamps and a heated water bowl to help keep him warm. They’ve since taken the nativity set pieces down, but left the wooden structure up with a tarp wrapped around the back to block out the wind.
When the weather gets warm again this summer, the residents will have the opportunity to go outside and see him, Wanous said..
“We just love him,” Nyhaug said. “You know, there isn’t a whole lot of excitement and fun things, and it’s nice to have something like Ralph, who’s here for everybody.”
