A Good Deed Kept Secret
By Hal Haralson
Attorney in Austin, Texas
I think big corporations are only out to make money. They rarely, if ever, go out of their way to help others. This story changed my mind.
We returned to Austin about 6:00 p.m. on December 26, 1972. The trip from Littlefield, Texas, where we spent Christmas with my wife`s parents, to our home in Austin, takes about 8 hours.
Jill, our teen-aged daughter, walked in the house, went to her room, and turned on the radio. Typical teen behavior.
Moments later, she came crying into the den. "The radio said our church bus crashed into a cattle trailer in Clovis, New Mexico. Several of our kids are dead."
There were two busloads of kids and their sponsors headed for a ski slope in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Woodlawn Baptist Church of Austin, Texas, would never be the same again.
I went to the church and joined a crowd of people gathered in the chapel. There was no word as to the names of those who were killed. We didn`t know who the survivors were.
About midnight, Jim Abington, our Pastor, spoke from the pulpit. For the first time, these families and friends were told who died and who lived.
Abington did not stop reading the names once he begun. "The following are known dead." Each name that was read brought sobs. He continued until 19 names were read. There was stunned silence. I saw Ron Hicks, our minister of education, comforting families who had lost children. Ron had just learned that Beverly and Robin were killed . . . his wife and only child.
The accident occurred about 12 miles west of Clovis, New Mexico, in a deserted stretch of prairie. The Clovis hospital was filled with the injured.
Ultimately, the survivors were taken to the Clovis airport. They had no way to get home.
I was chairman of the church insurance committee. In Austin, we were on the phone trying to get a plane to go to Clovis and pick up the survivors.
We tried the military at Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin. Too much red tape. Our congressman`s office tried to help, but again, protocol would delay a flight for hours. Finally, I picked up the phone and reached the home office of Southwest Airlines.
"We have approximately 40 kids in the airport in Clovis, New Mexico. They are survivors of an accident outside of Clovis in which 19 people were killed. They are all from Woodlawn Baptist Church in Austin, Texas. We need a plane in the air as quickly as possible. We`ve got to get these kids home."
The lady confirmed the information I had given her and said they would get a plane in the air immediately. "I have no idea what the cost will be."
"I don`t care what it costs, just do it."
I later learned that the crew of a plane that had just landed volunteered to go. They were airborne almost immediately.
About an hour later, there was a call at the church office asking for me. "My name is Neil Adams (not his real name). I`m Vice-President of Southwest Airlines. We are in touch with the plane. It will land in about 30 minutes. It is large enough to bring all your people back."
Then Mr. Adams said very clearly, "I have been authorized to tell you there will be no cost for the plane."
I was in Clovis on business related to the accident about two weeks later. I struck up a conversation with the flight attendant on the return flight.
It was a Southwest Airlines plane. I was the only passenger on board. I told her about the mercy flight, and she broke down and cried. Not only was the flight not publicized, Southwest had not even told their own people of the free flight.
About six weeks later, the Vice-President I had talked to on the phone came by my law office. He just wanted to meet me and see if the flight was O.K.
So far as I know, Southwest Airlines never publicized their generosity. Thirty years later, I`m still reminded of this example of corporate America and a good deed kept secret . . . until now.
