Local residents impress harried traveler

By Marlene J. Bohr
mbohr@steelcountrybee.com
 
Losing her cell phone led a Michigan woman to meet kind, helpful people in Daingerfield on a windy, rainy day. Julia Morris, who lives in Clarksville a small city near Lansing, Mich., said she was traveling through Daingerfield to Tyler to her parents’ house on Feb. 9 and panicked when she lost her cell phone.
“I thought I had put my cell phone on my dash,” she said. “It fell down and later when I stopped for gas, I looked for it, but couldn’t find it. I traveled on and stopped at McDonald’s to get coffee and asked the kids working there if they would call my cell phone. They agreed and I ran out to the car, followed by one young man who came out to the parking lot to help me look.  My phone didn’t ring.
“I asked the way back to the gas station. I went back, but not being familiar with the town, I got to the wrong gas station. A policeman was at the pump I had been at, so I asked him if he had seen my cell phone. That wonderful young man was so nice. He asked how I came into town, and when I told him he said he didn’t think I was at the right station. So he took me across town to another station and before I got parked, he jumped out of his car and was out looking for the phone.”
Not finding the phone, the woman searched in her car again.
“We did not find the phone near the gas pumps so I looked in the car again,” she said. “It was there on the floor, wedged under the floor mat. I didn’t think, but there was no cell service in Daingerfield for my phone. I thanked him profusely and he said ‘I thought you’d l find it in the car.’
“I am so lucky to have two parents in their 90s, but living so far away is scary when one of them is not well. When I was in Daingerfield I was exhausted and upset. I had been on the road driving for two days.
 However, my impression of Daingerfield is wonderful. There are some awfully nice people that live there. I used to live in East Texas in Overton, and I don’t think I had ever spent any time in Daingerfield. I love Texas and miss it terribly but my daughter married a Canadian and moved there and I decided if I wanted to see my grandchildren, I had to live closer to them. I just appreciate the people there from the officer to the kids at McDonald’s for going out of their way to help a stranger.”
A check with Daingerfield Police Chief Tracey Climer revealed the helpful police officer was Craig Swindler.