"It is ordinary people that seem to do some of the most heroic things. It is like how Grandma Doerflinger lifted a car because there was a man trapped underneath it," she said.
"Excuse me?" I said in disbelief.
"You've never heard that story?" she asked. Then she started telling me the story.
It was 1940 in Santa Monica, California. My grandma was home alone with her three children, all under the age of five. Her husband was working at McDouglas Airplane Factory. A family friend as over, fixing the car.
My grandma had just gotten the twins (my uncles) down for a nap when she decided to offer some lemonade to the family friend who was working on the car. When she approached him, he was adjusting the cinderblocks that was lifting the car from the ground. After some small talk, he slipped himself underneath the car and continued his work. She turned to return to the house when the cinderblocks slipped and the car came crashing back down on top of the man working on the car.
My grandmother screamed for him, but when he didn't answer she began screaming wildly. An older gentleman who was walking by the house ran over to my grandmother to aid her. She then bent down and lifted the car while the older gentleman pulled the family friend out from under the car.
The story goes that for two weeks my grandmother had to stay in bed. She couldn't move and had severely pulled about every muscle in her body.
The family friend was lucky to survive and only suffered from some broken ribs and a concussion.
I honestly find this to be a rather heroic act and something that she certainly didn't have to do. It was such a selfless act and it gave me an insight into the grandma I never knew.
3 comments:
That's a wonderful story - what a fantastic woman your grandmother must have been. And I agree with your mother: it's so often the "ordinary" people who do amazing things.
Great Story Elyse! I love to hear the "oh, didn't you ever hear about that?" come out of my family member's mouths. Those stories that come about in casual talk are often the best ones. Thanks for sharing & yes, she was heroic! Wow!
Elyse - this reminded me of a conversation that I had with my Grans a few weeks ago and a neat little piece of info I heard about my GGrandfather - I just had to write about it on my blog and giving thanks to you for making me remember.
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