A tribute to Cape Girardeau's angels

By Mary K. Curry

OAK GROVE, Mo. -- Now that the frenzy of summer is over, I wanted to take the time to share the memories of an unusual vacation.

With all the horrible events that have taken place in our country of late, I decided I wanted to take a vacation away from people, TV and telephones. I work in a hotel, so I wanted to get away from that also. We decided to camp.

I had visited Cape Girardeau a few years back and wanted my husband to enjoy all the Creole food in your area. He is from Baton Rouge, La. So we enjoyed a wonderful seafood dinner upon arriving in town and then drove to the beautiful Trail of Tears State Park to set up camp.

After we pitched our tent, I discovered beautiful Lake Boutin through the woods about 30 yards away. I was looking forward to cooking breakfast as the sun rose over such a pretty lake

God gave me exactly what I prayed for -- for about 10 minutes. Then he changed the course of our vacation. He obviously wanted to restore my faith in my fellowman. He did so through some wonderful people in Cape Girardeau.

After we set up camp, we decided to buy some ice for our cooler. But our car wouldn't start. Some kind campers next to us offered to give us a jump start. These were the first of many angels we would encounter over the next few days.

The car failed to start, so we opted to deal with it the next morning. We returned to our tent where I began to toss and turn for about five hours. At 2:30 a.m. I became extremely ill -- so much so that I knew I needed to get to a hospital quickly. My husband tried desperately to start the car but to no avail.

Our next thought was the technological savior, our cell phone. But we had no service from that location.

We had no choice but to awaken the kind campers who had tried to help us start the car. Within moments, I was being whisked away toward help. Not only did Dr. Richard Draper at Southeast Missouri Hospital's emergency room diagnose me (allergic reaction to shellfish), treat me and heal me, he drove us to buy a new battery for our car and took us back to our campsite where he helped my husband install the new battery.

Dr. Draper refused any monetary compensation. He just told us to "pay it forward."

Unfortunately, the battery wasn't the car's problem, so we had to have our car towed to a dealer to have it checked out. While we waited for the tow truck, Mr. Bill, the campground host, came by to see how I was doing. He drove me to the shower area as I was too weak to walk uphill.

The tow-truck driver allowed us to ride with him back to town. After dropping off our car at the dealer's lot, he drove us to the Holiday Inn at no additional cost.

The staff at the Holiday Inn was so friendly and accommodating. I couldn't believe I would spend the next three days in a hotel. With no car, we had no choice.

These events happened over the Labor Day weekend, so we had to wait until Tuesday to have our car looked at. Tuesday was the day we had to return home to the Kansas City area. We asked Tricia at the hotel's front desk about a cab so we could retrieve a few items from our car. This very sweet and kind young woman offered to drive us to the car and bring us back to the hotel.

While God was teaching me this lesson about my fellowman, my husband and I played pingpong and video games and enjoyed the hot tub. Instead of a sunrise breakfast on the lake, we enjoyed the hotel's breakfast buffet and pool.

Tuesday morning found us purchasing another car. We needed to leave as soon as possible that day. While we waited for credit reports and loan approval, the folks at Crown Cadillac lent us a brand-new car to go have lunch.

There were angels everywhere.

This story is long, but I felt the need to include everyone who was so kind to us in our time of need. My husband and I were just amazed by the people of this lovely town. It seems we hear so much of the negative things people do that I really wanted to express that my faith has been restored.

Thanks to the many angels we encountered in Cape Girardeau. We plan to visit again. Believe it or not, it is now one of our favorite travel memories.

Thank you, Cape Girardeau.

Mary K. (Kathy) Curry is an Oak Grove, Mo., resident.