My heart goes out to the accident victims and to the family of Mary Niemoeller. What happened to them in field service brings back many unsettling memories. In the 1960's, Joe and I were pioneering in this same area of West Palm Beach and lived just about a quarter of a mile west of where Mary Niemoeller lived on a street off of a major east-west highway, Southern Blvd. I had many Bible Studies in "Greenacres" where Mary had her home. At that time of the morning when the accident occurred, I wonder if they were going out to witness in the rural western areas of Palm Beach County where we also spent many hours in field service.
When we were out in field service one Saturday morning back in 1972, during the circuit overseer’s visit to the Canal Street Congregation where we attended, I was sitting in the back seat of a Volkswagen Carmen Gia. We were working in a territory with only a few houses on each street so we had to get back in the car when we finished calling at every house and ride over to the next street. At one point we were stopped on a major two-lane north-south highway in W. Palm Beach waiting to turn left onto another street after on-coming traffic passed. When the road was clear, the driver turned left (and I clearly remember the turn signal clicking as they did in that type of car), and we were broad-sided by a Florida State Highway Trooper who decided to pass us traveling at 55 mph. He did not have his siren or lights flashing. (He was going home to lunch.) By examining the skid marks the experts determined we were doing 12 mph.
The little well-built car we were in, I was told, rolled a few times and slid, and then stopped in a wet marshy field right-side up, the top and left side quite damaged. I saw the trooper, who was wearing his big trooper's hat, plainly when his car hit us, but remember nothing else until I awoke later-how many minutes later, I don't know. I had been sitting with my legs across the back seat because my "large" sister-in-law was in the front passenger-side seat and she needed more room for her legs so she had pushed her seat back making it a tight squeeze for me to have my feet on the floor. During the collision, the front passenger seat broke loose so if my legs had been there, they would have been crushed. In fact my shoes, which I had taken off and left on the floor, were both crushed.
After I came to my senses, I realized I didn't have any major injuries except whip-lash to my neck and found that a sweater I had worn over my shoulders had one sleeve torn off. Then I saw that the entire back window of the car had popped out. I crawled out the opening where the back window had been onto the wet ground and searched for my eyeglasses that flew out the window when it popped out. Finding them, I stood up and saw the trooper's car in the distance on fire with him trying to extinguish the flames. I then checked to see how the other two traumatized passengers were. They had minor injuries and couldn't get out of the car due to a crushed door on one side and a stuck door on the other and in a state of panic worried about fire.
I watched in the distance as traffic was pulling over and many men were helping the trooper with the fire. Soon the trooper, who was apparently in a state of shock, came “striding” (Florida State Troopers in those years wore memorable boots that came up to their knees or higher) up to the car and asked, of all things, if we had had our seat belts on. I did not have my seat belt on because of sitting sideways. But the other passengers did. The trooper was very annoyed at all of us and scolded the driver for her bad driving after he found out we were not badly injured. Then he walked away.
Someone called an ambulance and we were all taken to a local hospital for an examination. The doctor at the hospital that morning in the ER was a JW, Dr. Jack Carleton, who since the mid-1970's has been a doctor at Watchtower Farms in Wallkill, NY. It was his hardy little car that I was riding in that morning. The driver was a guest visiting his family from Virginia.
We sued the State of Florida for damages, which in those years was a no-no. It ended up that a year of physical therapy and other medical costs were paid for because the trooper was clearly at fault. My sister-in-law settled for $1,000 for injury to her right arm. I didn't ask for any damages except physical therapy for my neck. Incidentally, I still have problems with the left side of my neck all these many years later.
All of us thanked "Jehovah" we weren't killed and life went on. I bet that Circuit Overseer never forgot his visit at that time to our congregation. I know my family and I never have.
My sympathy is with all those who were involved in yesterday’s accident in WPB and to their families. This is a most horrible time for them all whether the accident happened on their way out in field service or if they were going any other place, it doesn’t matter. The reality is that a life was lost and it could have been mine or yours or someone you loved who was out in field service.
Barbara
