Story

More than thirty-five years ago, my wife, Margaret, and I were driving home shortly after 2:15 a.m. when our car suddenly sputtered, shook, and stopped in the middle of a …

My wife called me crying and told me to turn on the television. There stood the young man who had rescued us 35 years earlier, when our car died on a deserted highway after 2 a.m. He had refused my $1,000 and disappeared into the night. Now, as I listened to him explain why he devoted his life to helping strangers, I understood why he had never taken the money. Read More

More than thirty-five years ago, my wife, Margaret, and I were driving home shortly after 2:15 a.m. when our car suddenly sputtered, shook, and stopped in the middle of a …

One freezing night, a young man saved my wife and me without asking who we were or what we could give him. When I offered him $1,000, he asked me to help someone else instead. I kept my word for decades, never imagining that the man who inspired me would one day become famous for doing the same thing on a much larger scale. Read More

More than thirty-five years ago, my wife, Margaret, and I were driving home shortly after 2:15 a.m. when our car suddenly sputtered, shook, and stopped in the middle of a …

My wife and I were stranded in the middle of nowhere when a young stranger stopped his rusty truck and offered help. He drove us 42 miles, bought us dinner, and refused my $1,000. Years later, he appeared on television as a famous philanthropist, and the story he told made us realize that our lives had been connected all along. Read More

More than thirty-five years ago, my wife, Margaret, and I were driving home shortly after 2:15 a.m. when our car suddenly sputtered, shook, and stopped in the middle of a …

I never learned the full name of the college student who saved us on that freezing highway. He asked for no reward, only a promise that we would help another person someday. We kept that promise for 35 years—until my wife saw a familiar face on television and called me in tears. Read More

More than thirty-five years ago, my wife, Margaret, and I were driving home shortly after 2:15 a.m. when our car suddenly sputtered, shook, and stopped in the middle of a …

My wife and I had nearly given up hope when an old pickup truck appeared on a deserted highway. The young driver took us 42 miles to safety and refused the $1,000 I offered. Thirty-five years later, when we heard him tell our story on television, we realized that the night we had never forgotten was one he had carried with him, too. Read More

More than thirty-five years ago, my wife, Margaret, and I were driving home shortly after 2:15 a.m. when our car suddenly sputtered, shook, and stopped in the middle of a …

More than three decades ago, a broke college student used his own gas to rescue two strangers and refused a $1,000 reward. I promised to repay his kindness by helping others, and my wife and I spent years doing exactly that. Then we discovered that our rescuer had become one of the nation’s most celebrated philanthropists. Read More

More than thirty-five years ago, my wife, Margaret, and I were driving home shortly after 2:15 a.m. when our car suddenly sputtered, shook, and stopped in the middle of a …

The young man who rescued my wife and me on a deserted highway refused to accept a single dollar. “Help someone else someday,” he told me before disappearing into the darkness. We never saw him again, but decades later, my wife spotted him on television—and suddenly, the memory of that freezing night felt more powerful than ever. Read More

More than thirty-five years ago, my wife, Margaret, and I were driving home shortly after 2:15 a.m. when our car suddenly sputtered, shook, and stopped in the middle of a …

I thought I was offering a young stranger $1,000 to thank him for saving my wife and me. Instead, he gave me a promise that changed how I lived for the next 35 years. Then my wife recognized his face on television, and we realized that the kindness we had passed along had traveled farther than we could have imagined. Read More

More than thirty-five years ago, my wife, Margaret, and I were driving home shortly after 2:15 a.m. when our car suddenly sputtered, shook, and stopped in the middle of a …

My wife was shivering, our car wouldn’t start, and we were stranded on an empty highway after 2 a.m. Then a young man appeared, drove us 42 miles to safety, and refused my money. We never learned his last name—until decades later, when a television broadcast revealed that our mysterious rescuer had become a household name. Read More

More than thirty-five years ago, my wife, Margaret, and I were driving home shortly after 2:15 a.m. when our car suddenly sputtered, shook, and stopped in the middle of a …

A young college student rescued my wife and me on a freezing highway more than 35 years ago. When I offered him $1,000, he smiled and told me to help someone else instead. I honored that promise for decades, never knowing that one morning I would see his face on television and finally understand the impact of that night. Read More