Lester Butler has been working for McComb’s Public Works Department for more than 30 years, and while he never knows what the day will bring, May 2 gave him the opportunity to become someone’s hero.
He was driving along Mississippi Street in a city truck responding to a call when he noticed a lady who looked like she may be in trouble.
“I thought something didn’t look right. When I looked in the rearview mirror, I saw she had fallen. I had to turn around and go back. I turned around right in the middle of the street,” Butler said.
Just before Butler headed down her street, Maureen Clark went outside to walk her dog.
“I was walking toward my mailbox when I noticed a little limb in the yard. When I bent down to pick it up, my feet got tied up, and I felt myself go down. I called to a man who was across the street, but he didn’t really help. I saw that white Public Works truck pulling over, and I was relieved,” Clark said. “He was my angel. I could have kissed his feet.”
“I told her I didn’t want to try to help her up and make anything worse. She asked me to call her nephew, Brad Clark, and she gave me his number,” Butler said. “I called him and told him I was with his aunt. She just fell on the sidewalk. He said he would be there in five minutes, so I told him I would call the ambulance. I think he got there in two minutes.”
After calling 911, Butler stayed on the phone with the operator, and he talked to Clark while waiting for the ambulance.
“She is about my mom’s age, and it just got me. It just really hurt me to see her fall like that,” Butler said. “I had to go back and check on her.”
“Since her nephew was Brad Clark, I asked her if she knew Tommy McKenzie,” Butler said, referring to McComb’s Ward 1 selectman. “She said she worked with him for years. I told her I went to school with him. She was talking to me. She was the one hurt, but she kept me calm.”
“I was hurting,” Clark said. “I cracked my pelvic bone. I tried to catch myself with my elbow, so it was bleeding.”
Clark spent several nights in the hospital and a short stint in stepdown care before returning home.
“It has been hard, but I am doing much better,” she said. “One good thing about living in Smallsville, USA, is that I have friends and family who take care of me. I have been very blessed to have good people looking out for me.”
Butler called later to check on Clark.
“I’m glad she is better. I have been working for the City of McComb for all of these years. I plan to just keep on doing what the Lord told me to do. I will serve the city and people of McComb for as long as I can,” Butler said.
