Watching my Daughter Nearly Die

by John P. Pratt

As our family drove home, the back car door flew open and a small body fell onto the highway. My 3-year-old had been sleeping by that door and as I ran to save her, I saw a car run right over the body!

Pioneer portrait taken the day of the accident.
(Click to enlarge.)

Quoted from my journal for Mon 2 Aug 1982: "We went to Lagoon from 1 pm to 10 pm! We had a great time, including having a pioneer-costumed portrait taken. I told everyone not to smile, but to look like we'd been crossing the plains. A stranger gave Mary a large stuffed alligator about as big as she is, which was especially strange because someone did the same thing last year.

"On the way home we had a traumatic experience which ruined us for days. As we turned left off U.S. Highway 89 onto 2nd North in Kaysville, the right back door swung open and something fell out. I immediately stopped the car and jumped out to see if it was Mary who fell out. I saw a motionless heap on the highway and as my terrified eyes watched, a car hit it and knocked the lifeless body 2 to 3 feet. I thought my Mary was dead! I ran to pick up her broken body and have never experienced such relief as to see a run-over stuffed alligator!

"I was not aware that Ruth had had a definite intuition to tell Mary to get off the back seat and into the very back of the station wagon. Mary's obedience may have saved her life."

As I now copy those words written in 1982, I can say that I relive that trauma every time I recall this terrifying experience. The fact that it was a stuffed alligator has not lessened the trauma; for me I had watched Mary be killed! This has helped me understand better those who have recurring memories from horrible war experiences. My journal entry concluded that from that point on we would make sure all doors were locked and seat belts fastened!