July 8, 1993

I decided to walk down the railroad tracks on my way from Allyn (campus main art building) to the Glove Factory (studio building), something I had never done before. At one point I saw a man in a power wheelchair crossing the tracks by the Glove, about 100' feet ahead. His chair came to a stop right in the middle of the tracks and he started yelling for help. I called out that I was on the way and kept walking. Shortly after I heard the bells and saw the flashing lights and the rail crossing gates descending. Then I started running. Thanks to my years of experience in the field of developmental disabilities, it didn't take me long to take the chair out of gear and push him to safety. I asked if I could call anyone for him but he insisted that no one was home and begged me to push him to his destination where he could get help. This turned out to be about half a mile away, quite an ordeal on a hot July afternoon.