February 1, 2004 – Mammoth Mountain – Mammoth Lakes, California: It was another day of crystal meth and snowboarding. Eric was addicted to both. Ignoring the ski patrol’s warning that the mountain was closing because of an approaching blizzard, he planned to make one...
1992, Veterans Administration Clinic – Baltimore, Maryland: “Mr. Boorman, you need to face the facts,” the VA doctor told him, “You will never walk again without assistance.” Boorman, age 32, was a former Army paratrooper who made more than 200 jumps during the Gulf...
3:00 pm, Monday, September 11, 2001 – Gander, Newfoundland: Flight 49 was enroute from Paris to Dallas when captain Beverly Bass called for the head flight attendant. Bass handed her a printed message from the American Airlines office in Dallas. It read, “All airways...
June 1994 – New York City: Deogratias “Deo” Niyizonkiza left his empty shopping cart on the sidewalk. He slipped into St. Thomas More’s Church on East 89thStreet to pray. He was alone and out of place in a strange new world. Deo knew no one, spoke no English, and had...
September 6, 1992 – San Francisco, California: When Mike McIntyre shared his unusual idea with his family, the second-guessing began immediately. His brother asked, “Why would you deliberately put yourself in this position?” His father’s reaction was, “You’ll get...
1958, Nashville, Tennessee: The scars were deep. They had been there since childhood. He could remember each time a child laughed at him. Mel Tillis was having success writing songs since arriving in Nashville two years earlier, but his real love and dream was to be...
