January 24, 2006

Last weekend a student who attends the University of Mobile had one of those moments that one remembers for a lifetime.  The young man is Gray Fobes from Daphne.  At around eleven o'clock, he was on his way back to the dorm going across the causeway, when he saw a SUV flipping end over end on the opposite side of the road.  It was an amazing sight to put it mildly.  Gray watched as the large vehicle finally flopped to a stop.  He went on up highway and turned around as soon as he could to go back and see if he could help.  When he got out of his car to check on the scene, he noticed that there was smoke coming from the mutilated car.  The front end was smashed and the roof was crushed down to the window.  Gray tried to open the door, but it was so badly damaged that it wouldn't budge.  Although he considered that moving the man might be dangerous, he thought the threat of fire required that he try and get the man out.   Desperate to help the victim get out of the car before it caught fire, he ran back to his own car and took the tire tool from his trunk.  Returning, the young man smashed the rear window and crawled in the car all the way from the rear to the front where the driver lay unconscious.  Using every bit of strength he could muster, Gray dragged the man all the way back out of the rear of the SUV.  A few moments later the driver regained consciousness and aside from some cuts and bruises seemed to be OK.  He said that he thought that he had hit a curb on the inside of the causeway and it surprised him so that he jerked the wheel too much in order to compensate.  That was the last thing he could remember. 

Gray had dialed 911 on his cell phone when he first saw the accident, so very soon a police car arrived.  The police officer immediately began giving the young hero the third degree.  He had taken one look at the young student and came to his own conclusions before even trying to find out what had happened "Have you been drinking?" the officer said.  "Have you been using drugs?" he said.  Gray had not.  Now for your information, this is a young man who is considering a future career in the church.  Yet, here he is, after showing great courage and character, being given a thorough going over.  It didn't take too long for Gray to straighten the officer out, and so the policeman finally told him to go on his way.

This is a wonderful story of courage and strong character in one who is only twenty years old.  He was raised in Daphne, attended school and went to church here, and even spent some time visiting the Dox in Lake Forest with his friends.  He is one that his home folks can be proud to claim and one whose character is such that some of us, much longer in the tooth, should emulate.