Thankful for a caring community

The day before Thanksgiving, we were involved in an accident just a few miles north of Thermopolis. Our rental car hit a deer and the side airbags deployed.

We are all from Wyoming originally and were coming home to see our mother/ grandma for Thanksgiving. We’d planned a road trip from the Denver airport “for old time’s sake,” as when the “girls” (now women on either side of 40) were little, we spent lots of time together. Now all four of us live in different states.

After we hit the deer, what had been a wonderful day of reminiscing became a scary moment in a dark night that smelled like gunpowder from the airbags.

Within minutes, a young man came to the passenger window. He asked if there was anything he could do. By then, the rental car’s OnStar system had been activated and we told him that we thought we were ok.

Local EMS and deputies from the Hot Springs County Sheriff’s Office soon arrived. Someone warned us that if we continued driving, we might deploy the other airbags, and a deputy helped us locate a towing service. A Wyoming Highway Patrol state trooper arrived a little later and stayed with two of us while we waited for the tow truck.

Everyone was extremely helpful and very caring. One of us was on oxygen and they checked her multiple times.

We want to give special thank you to the deputy and state trooper, who worked together seamlessly to make sure we were protected and warm, and the scene was safe for other drivers who passed by. They provided a space for us to wait for a family member to drive to Thermopolis to bring us home to Greybull in time for Thanksgiving.

Once again, we remain thankful we are from Wyoming. Our mom/ grandma emigrated to Thermopolis from Colorado over 70 years ago to be a schoolteacher. She only lived there for a few years, but she loved your town. And now we do, too.

Loi Dene Berkey, Amie Ely,

Kendra Larmour and Lora Whiteman