A good deed in Bristol last week has left a Newcastle woman wondering whom to thank.
Joyce Dexter, 68, was one of dozens of drivers in the Midcoast who slipped, slid or crashed during the first significant snowstorm of the season Dec. 6.
Dexter was coming back from a Christmas luncheon in New Harbor when her car lost traction on Rt. 130, just past Hanley’s Market just around noon. Dexter’s PT Cruiser spun out, spun around, and eventually slid off the road, down a grassy embankment, ending up on its side.
“Of course the road hadn’t been plowed because it was around noontime,” she said. “I remember driving slowly in the ruts but that didn’t work. After [the car] went around several times, it went down the embankment.”
Dexter’s Cruiser ended up on its side – the driver’s side on the ground. Dexter undid her seatbelt and, standing on the steering wheel, managed to poke her head up through a shattered passenger window. The first thing she saw were cars going by on the roadway.
Dexter said her position down an embankment probably made her difficult to see. “Somehow I climbed up. I put my foot on the horn,” Dexter said. “I started waving and calling for help.”
As she was waving, two trucks pulled up. “It was certainly a very welcome sight because when I stood up I saw the cars going by,” Dexter said. “These two young men – I remember the first truck pulling up and probably the second. I have no concept of the time. I don’t think I was there very long. They called 911 and I remember they helped me up.”
The two good Samaritans assisted her from her vehicle and kept her warm while she waited for the ambulance. Dexter said she did not get the young men’s names but she truly appreciates their help. She might or might not recognize them if she saw them again, she said.
Dexter said she has a heartfelt thank you for the help of her unknown assistants, the Bristol First Responders and Miles Memorial Hospital staff.
Looking back on her mishap, Dexter notes she was very lucky: There was no oncoming traffic where she spun out, she went off the side of the road where there were no trees and she was wearing her seatbelt.
“I have been extremely fortunate,” she said.
