Thursday, October 15, 2009
Metro columnist Dan Casey: Crash met kindness head-on
Dan Casey is The Roanoke Times' metro columnist.
dan.casey
@roanoke.com
981-3423
Dan Casey
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Residents of the Roanoke region, please pat yourselves on the back.
There's one very appreciative mom from Texas who wants you to know how kind and patient and helpful you are.
Beverly Kaaa hails from the Dallas suburb of Garland.
On Oct. 5, her youngest daughter was involved in a serious crash on Interstate 81 in Botetourt County.
Roxsan Kaaa, 15, was the front-seat passenger in a van headed south. She was with an older couple, also from Texas, and they had attended a bunch of dog shows in Pennsylvania. In the back of the van were three (caged) terriers.
The driver, Joe Goddard, 67, dozed briefly and the van veered off the highway's left side and into the median.
It struck the end of a guardrail, went airborne and landed with a thud on the driver's side.
Jamie Brown, a Lexington housewife, was headed to a doctor appointment in Roanoke when she witnessed the crash, near the southbound 157 mile marker.
"They slowly drifted off to the left and we started to see dirt and grass kick up and no brakes or anything. That's when they hit the corner of the guardrail."
Brown called 911 and ran to help.
She and a number of other passers-by who stopped pulled the three people and three dogs out of the smoking heap before rescue crews arrived.
Then Brown called Beverly Kaaa in Texas -- Roxsan had punched the number on Brown's cellphone.
"She said, 'Everything's OK, but there's been an accident.' " Kaaa's heart jumped -- Roxsan is her baby, the only one left at home.
Kaaa flew here Oct. 6. The kindnesses, both big and small, continued from the minute her plane landed.
Besides Brown, here's Kaaa's partial list of thanks, to:
- The employees at the airport car rental desk that didn't have a suitable vehicle but helped Kaaa rent one from a competitor.
- The staff at Carilion Clinic Children's Hospital, who were in regular contact with Kaaa, treated Roxsan, and kept her occupied with magazines, video games and movies during her overnight visit.
- The folks at Robert Young Towing, who towed the totaled van and later allowed Kaaa to scavenge it for undamaged items for that could be returned to Texas.
- The employees at UPS who shrink-wrapped those items on several pallets and had them trucked to Garland.
- The worker at a closed CVS pharmacy who unlocked the door to give Kaaa directions to the nearest 24-hour drugstore when she needed to get medicine late at night.
- The employees and manager at the Red Roof Inn, who helped Kaaa and the Goddards load her rental vehicle when they were ready to leave for Texas.
There were others, but you get the drift. Kaaa was blown away by the serial kindnesses.
Helping "was just second nature to them," she said Monday. "I want people to know how wonderful their town is. They don't always hear it. They hear the negative."
We have some of that, sure. But she is right. This is a pretty special place, with special people.
Joe Goddard was uninjured. His wife, Linda Goddard, broke her sternum but is home in Texas, recovering nicely. Roxsan returned to high school this week. Her legs are still a little sore from the wreck, but she'll be fine.
Besides the wreck, there was one minor hiccup.
Roxsan had $600 in her wallet at the time of the crash, and the money wasn't there afterward, Kaaa said. That was the pay Roxsan earned for showing one of the dogs. Half of it was headed to her college savings.
"I told her, 'Honey, God blessed you,' " Kaaa said. " 'Somebody else needed that money more than you did. They're going to put it to a put it to good use. It's just paper. That's nothing. You're OK.' "
"She said, 'Well, [whoever took it] couldn't have been from Roanoke. They're too nice there!' "
