Like I said, I have a few memories that make me, from time to time, ask myself ..what if?? This is the one I have had the longest and may be, in the long run, most profound.
I mentioned that I graduated from MacArthur High School in San Antonio. The graduating class was over 1200 seniors. Out of the over 1200 seniors, only five were admitted to Trinity University in the fall of 1964. Remember, I only went to class my senior year of high school for less than half a day so I really didn't get to know very many of my classmates. The other four who were going to enter Trinity, I only knew casually. After our freshman semester began in the fall of 1964, the parents of one of these kids hosted a reception for all five of us that were accepted to Trinity (in their mind, it was a big deal). I was invited by the parents who were hosting the reception and I was also reminded about it by the other four students. I elected not to attend. I really didn't know the four other students very well and I'm sure I was busy doing something else. After the reception the four students headed back to Trinity to attend a function that was going on there, a freshman dance I think. They all were in the same car. The easiest way to get back to Trinity from where we all lived was to go through Brackenridge Park that bordered the East side of the campus. There was a shortcut off Broadway that ended up right in front of the girls dorms. It was a twisty and winding road with lots of old trees lining the way. For no apparent reason, other than speed....the car carrying these four MacArthur students hit a tree, killing them all instantly. If fate had taken me in a different direction, I WOULD HAVE BEEN IN THAT CAR!! I heard the news in the very early hours of the next morning. A friend of mine at Trinity called me to tell me what had happened. I remember hearing his words but the impact of what he was saying didn't hit me right away. After a while, it started to sink in and it hasn't left my mind since. Yes, that was a moment in time that I will never forget.
The next two incidents involved airplanes. After I went to work at OTASCO, and after I was made a buyer, I started traveling a lot. Most of the travel involved flying. I loved to fly!! I had been flying since I was 5 years old. My parents would put me on a plane with a BIG name tag pinned to me and send me off to Columbus by myself to stay with relatives. I remember the stewardess' taking really good care of me, letting me sit with them during take-offs and landings. I also got to go up into the cockpit and visit the pilots....a very big deal for a 5 year old. I still think I have the collection of "wings" that I was given on each trip packed away somewhere.
My first experience was in the mid 80's when OTASCO would send some of the office people in Tulsa out to visit the stores. It was called Operation Contact and we would drop in on our stores unannounced just to see if they were following procedures. I won't go in to all the details but needless to say, it was fun and got us out of the office. On one of these trips, we took our corporate plane to Little Rock and from there, divide up into teams and headed out to visit stores all over Arkansas. I was on a team that was going to visit stores in Southern Arkansas and West Memphis. That meant we would fly a "puddle jumper" plane (usually a very small plane that held from 4 to 6 passengers, including the pilot). We would land in some very small airport somewhere and the Supervisor of the area we were visiting would pick us up and drive us from store to store that was on our itinerary. Well, we were flying along when all of a sudden there was a loud bang and the plane filled with smoke. We were over pasture land and we had to make an emergency landing. Yes, I'll admit, I pee'd my pants. The pilot found a small farm road to land on and after circling it once to make sure there were no cars or livestock on the road...we made our landing. Yes, I was scared but then again, when the plane touched down...I felt a calm. Anyway, the pilot called for help. After a long wait, the Supervisor for the area arrived and we continued on our way. We ended up visiting all the stores on the schedule, only missing two. Before the first store visit we stopped by a small variety store and those of us who needed to, bought some new underwear!!.
The one thing I learned from this is that my Prudential life insurance policy DID NOT COVER, non- scheduled air flights. When I got home, we had our insurance agent add a rider to our policy. Why somebody didn't think about it ahead of time was beyond me but hey, live and learn and we had a good story to tell!! By the way, it was the air conditioning compressor on the plane that exploded and burned up....didn't find that out for a week or so after.
The next experience was on a Delta flight from Dallas to Atlanta. I was going to visit a factory just outside Atlanta. The pilot came on just before landing and said he was having some trouble with the brakes on the plane. An indicator light had come on warning the pilots of a potential problem. He told us all to prepare for a rough landing. I had had rough landings before so I kinda knew what to expect. The plane touched down and I knew by the speed, we were slowing down but I didn't feel the brakes grab. Next thing I knew we had skidded to the end of the run way but the plane was OK. They sent buses out to pick us up...That certainly got the day off to a great start!!
My last close call with checking out was the weekend of my son's wedding in 2004. I was driving up on a Saturday to attend the rehearsal dinner. While I was driving, I was pulling into Enid when I felt a bit dizzy. I pulled into a McDonald's to get a bite to eat and go to the bathroom. When I went into the bathroom, there was nobody else there. When I finished, I turned around to wash my hands and passed out and collapsed to the floor. I was out briefly but when I woke up...I stood again, but in just seconds, I passed out again. I finally made it out of the bathroom and into the dining room. I called one of the workers over and ask them to call 911. She said she would have to ask the manager. What the f**k!!. Anyway, the manager came over and I ask her to call 911. I was feeling very ill and I knew I needed some help. Fortunately, Bass Memorial Hospital was just down the street. The ambulance came...loaded me up and took me to Bass. To make a long story short.....I had a bleeding ulcer in my stomach that I was unaware of. I lost about a third of my blood. I wasn't able to make it to the rehearsal dinner but the doctors released me on Monday for two hours so I could attend the wedding. It wasn't until much later that I found out how close I was to bleeding out. Just another twist of fate.
Well, I have a couple other stories about close calls and twists of fate but they are not so dramatic. If you count these, I think I listed 8 near misses and they say a cat has 9 so I best hold fate off the next time!!
No comments:
Post a Comment