After my fall through the 3rd floor window at OCC on Dec. 1, 1966, I spent a LONG time in Baptist Hospital in OKC. After my third of five hospitalizations and surgeries, sometime during the Spring of 1967, I was tickled to get to have a date with a sweet girl I had been dating when I fell out of the window. Her name was Carol Davis, (the girl on the left with the polka-dot looking dress) and she was from Bay Shore, N.Y. It was late in the day, but it was not yet dark. We were walking from the girls' dorm where she lived, to the campus. It was not a great distance, so I didn't mind walking with my right leg in a walking cast, and my right upper arm held together with plate and screws and my right forearm trussed up with a brace that allowed springs to hold my fingers and thumb out in stirrups that made them not curl into a claw (which they did when I did not wear the device). I had torn some pretty significant nerves in my arm --- radial nerve, I think they called it. On my own I could not raise my right wrist, or straighten my fingers.
I had braces on my teeth at the time. A smart-mouthed (grin) jr. high kid I had previously run into, saw the cast, the arm brace, the braces on my teeth and said: "What's all this, Shoemake ---your Science Fair project?" He then just about died laughing. If I could have caught him, I would have throttled him! Back to the story: Carol Davis and I were heading toward the College Church (now called the Memorial Road congregation. It was raining. I walked on her right side down the sidewalk, since my left arm still worked. She was pretty and I was so proud to be able to be out of the wheelchair and actually walking...well, sort of walking. I still hurt so very much -- all over -- and I looked like Chester, on the old Gunsmoke t.v. series, with my right leg in a stiff plastic cast wrapped with plastic. We couldn't walk very fast. She held the umbrella with her right hand and I held it with my left hand, and we made decent progress toward the building. I had a rubber walking boot on my walking cast and a nice dress shoe on my left foot, made of some synthetic material that made it fairly invulnerable to rain water. Carol had some rain gear over her feet. Suddenly there was a simultaneous blinding light and explosion! It was like a bomb had gone off nearby!
Nearly deaf from the lightning bolt, and stunned, with the retinas in our eyes feeling poached, we looked around for the umbrella. There it was -- on the ground over by Carol. She picked it up (I couldn't perform that maneuver, with the cast on my leg), and we headed off toward the building again, which was probably still 200 feet away. Our hair was wet (yes, I had hair back then) and we were now soaked. As we stood in the 'back of the old auditorium, right inside the old east entry, we were checking ourselves out. Everything seemed to be okay. Then we noticed the smell! Like burned hair! We started looking at each other and checking each other out. We noticed that there was no hair on my left (umbrella) arm and no peach fuzz on Carol's right (umbrella) arm! That's where the smell came from! Burned hair! At that moment, two other girls we both knew -- Cheryl Suffridge (now Cheryl Payne, of Stillwater), and Karen Selby (from California), came in from the rain. They were goggle-eyed. I asked them if they had heard and seen the lightning strike. They almost shouted out: "Did we SEE IT? It hit your umbrella and we saw it arc to the ground!" We had known that it had hit nearby, but had no idea that we had been hit. When we saw the hair missing from our arms, we sort of assumed that it was from 'static electricity' from the lightning having hit so close to us! The lightning could have gone right through us. Instead, it followed the rain streaming off of the umbrella and went to the ground. Unbelievable!
Later on, although so very grateful for our safety, we couldn't help but remark how God was either trying to teach me something...or, possibly, the Devil was a 'bad shot'...he missed me again!
Once again, God's Providential care in my life and the life of my friend, Carol.
6 comments:
Oh My Goodness. I knew you fell through the roof -- that is OC legend -- however I had no idea you were struck by lightning. I am so glad you are getting this stuff down. Have you thought of submitting some things to the OC Alumni publication? I mean, how many people have had TWO near death experiences on campus??
Gene I love your family so much. You are a very blessed man. I am glad God saved you twice...
Dad, you need to say whose those people are in that picture. Way to go figuring that out, though. I never realized you had witnesses to that crazy event. I'm glad, once again, that you survived! Love you.
Gena, I DID say who Carol Davis was in the pic. She's the one on the left. The other two are her relatives -- her g-ma and her cousin. They are not part of the story.
Without there having been witnesses to that event, I probably would not have told it. It's not very believable withouteyewitnesses, is it? How often do people get hit by lightning and live to tell the tale?
Over the years I have kept up with Carol Davis (now Carol Nichols) and Cheryl Suffridge (now Cheryl Payne). After all 40+ years they are still friends.
Sorry. I hadn't had my coffee yet.
What an incredible story...even though I'm sorry that you had to go through it! I've heard Gena tell that story a couple of times, but to hear it from your perspective... Amazing!
Thank you for the sweet comments you've left on my blog. We love and appreciate your family so much.
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