Edmond, Oklahoma’s Good Samaritans Come To The Rescue
I received numerous e-mails from readers about the Good Samaritans who came to their rescue during the Christmas Eve winter storm.
Dana Bleeker wrote, “My neighbor R.L. Hilbun was working hard to get home Christmas Eve from Kansas. He was down to a crawl on I-35 near 2nd St, when a man approached his car and signaled he was having chest pain. My neighbor loaded him into his car, had him chew some aspirin and turned west to Edmond Medical Center; where it was determined that the man was in deed having a heart attack.”
Karl Kueteman wrote, “About 5 p.m. Christmas Eve, I was driving my daughter home from her job when I got stuck in a snowdrift heading north on Baumann Ave. Home was only 6 blocks north so we started out walking against that killer north wind. By the time we traveled one block thru the snowdrifts, I was praying that someone would come along and give us a ride. Lo and behold, a college student driving a Jeep Wrangler pulled up and asked if we wanted a ride. We wasted no time climbing into his Jeep for shelter from that north wind. The college student, Nathan said he was driving around in case someone needed help. We thanked Nathan for the ride home and he drove off, looking for others in need of help. God bless you, Nathan!”
Jan Hager wrote, “When we started out the morning of the 24th we had no idea that our usual trip to pick up my Mother to spend a couple of days at my house would turn into what it did, an adventure! Normally it takes about an hour and a half round trip to drive to her house near Lake Overholser and return to our home in north Edmond. On December 24th it took over six hours plus!”
“Many things occurred during our trip but I wanted to share a few.We experienced both Good and Bad during that time. The Broadway Extension was a complete nightmare, we thought it was a snow route. Of course everyone was experiencing the same thing…poor visibility, jammed up exits, abandoned cars and wreckless pickup truck drivers! While these pickup trucks may have been better equipped than our passenger car for these conditions the drivers seemed to delight in driving too fast and cutting in and out of the cars on the road forcing the non pickup drivers to attempt to avoid them. This with my 87 year old mother in the back seat with her hands over her eyes!”
“Now the Good…..at one point we were attempting to negotiate the hill on Eastern just North of Memorial, it was jammed up with cars that were stuck. While my husband is a wonderful driver he just couldn’t work miracles and we too became hopelessly stuck in the snow. From time to time we noticed a large black pickup with a pull-strap on the back but figured they had come to pull out a friend that was stuck. After an hour on the hill, with my Mom becoming more nervous by the minute, the black pickup appeared in front of and a young man jumped out of the passenger side and approached my husband asking if we needed help. Of course we were all thrilled to see the help come. The young man and his companion proceeded to hook up the pull line and pull us approximately a mile to a semi clear street. What a blessing!”
Tiffany Cargill wrote, “On Christmas Eve around 4pm there was a group of young men on the southwest corner of UCO (on 2nd street) that were literally hanging out & waiting for cars (or trucks in my case) that needed a push to make it up the hill just before the lights. They all kept smiles on their faces & then wished us a Merry Christmas.
We had just had a wonderful Christmas at my parents house & the help from those guys made a stressful, snow & ice filled drive home a little warmer for us. I hollered thank you out my window, but I don’t know if they heard or not. And to be honest, I don’t think they were out there to get the thank you…I think they were out there because of the warmth in their hearts.”
Jenna Adkins wrote, “Our neighbor Alex and his brother in-law went through our neighborhood of Sycamore and Elm Street near I-35 and scraped the street of snow and even cleaned our driveway. We have a lot of retirees and people with no equipment to do this type of work. It normally takes a week or more to be able to get out of our driveway. We thoroughly appreciate this.”
Bill and Kathy Merkel wrote, “Christmas Breakfast has always been part of our family’s Christmas celebration. This went by the way side this year with the snow. Just before noon our son called to tell us his daughter’s family from Midwest City and their son from Norman were going to make it sometime around 2:30. Our daughter was informed and they said they would get their daughter, her husband and children from apartments near Quail Springs and see us.”
“I begin shoveling the snow off the side walk so they could get in. The second time I went out to shovel I noticed the children and grandchildren of the Neighbor across the street had arrived for their activities. After I shoveled some more I went back in the house to get warm again and rest. Surprise, surprise – her sons Alan Hare and Steve Cherry had came over and were shoveling the driveway for me- this while they could be in their Mother’s home enjoying Christmas. Thus I have not had to worry about ice these many days. I wanted to send them a thank you, please help me by recognizing them.”
