The logging truck flipped onto its side, spilling logs, but leaving the driver uninjured. Kimmie's 18 year old brother, Dee, was driving her Jeep when it happened. She had come back to town only to see him graduate from high school the previous Saturday and was leaving the next morning for home. The Jeep was already packed with her suitcases and no one, including her brother, have any idea why she threw him the keys and told him to drive that morning. Had she not done that, they would have been in his small car. The scene spoke for itself...neither one of them would have survived had they been in a small car. As it turned out, her little brother had only minor injuries and walked away from the accident.

We all know that things happened the way Kim would have wanted...she is just that way...I know the only thing she thought of in that split second she saw the truck coming toward her was of her brother sitting beside her...I am sure she thought they both were getting ready to die. She calmly said "Oh, Dee", shielded her face with her right arm and closed her eyes. The accident couldn't have been avoided and it was ultimately Kimmie's judgement call that placed them in front of the truck. Her brother had to veer one way or another to avoid a car which stopped abruptly in front of them...he did the correct thing and veered to the right-hand side of the road. Kim looked up from what she was doing (placing stamps on postcards they had just bought to send to friends) and saw a man walking on the right-hand side of the road...and screamed at her brother to "go left"...which he did.  Their Jeep clipped the back-end of the vehicle stopped in front of them, causing the Jeep to flip around into the oncoming lane of traffic. Neither of them saw the logging truck until it was a matter of yards from them and coming straight for Kimmie's door at 50+ mph. The truck impacted the Jeep so hard that the Jeep actually ended up on the railroad tracks BEHIND the flipped-over truck/spilled logs.

Kimberly Anne is a 28 year old school teacher from Manhattan, Kansas. She worked hard for her Master's Degree in teaching and her "kids" adored her. She and her fiance have been together since she was 18 years old. He finally proposed to her last Christmas (2000). He had bought her the Jeep as a surprise birthday present last New Year's Eve (her birthday). He "wanted her to be safe" was his reason ...and oddly enough, he probably saved her life...and her brother's. The Jeep has "side crumple zones" and a sturdy construction...that is most likely the only thing that saved her...the Jeep took most of the impact instead of her.

God (or fate...or whatever you want to know it as in your belief system) stepped in a few times for our family. Not only the above things all together (her fiance buying her the Jeep so she'd be safe and her deciding to take it that morning), but the fact that they were the only 2 in the vehicle at the time of the accident. Her other brother's wife and 2 children were going to go into town with them that morning. You can see the baby's car seat strapped into the backseat on the passenger side(!) which was right behind Kimberly. For reasons she can't even tell you, Kim's sister-in-law just decided not to go. She said she really didn't have a reason...they just didn't go. Although my 1-1/2 yr. old great nephew probably would have survived the accident (those car seats are nothing short of amazing!), he most definitely would have sustained injuries. The car seat bottom was "crunched" and filled with broken glass. Also, the quick response of the emergency teams was great. We are a very small town and have only had the life flight helicopter for about a year. If we had not had that, the closest trauma center is over an hour away! In severe trauma cases, we always had to wait for the helicopter to come from that trauma center and then the return flight took even more time.

For what reason this happened, we have yet to know...but I am sure that there is a reason. I think Kimmie is going to be a "teacher" again...perhaps in a much different way...but a teacher none-the-less.