On March 23rd, the “Picayune Item” received an email with a subject line which read “I need some help please.”
The email was sent by Mary Ellen Jacques and read as follows:
“Dear Editor, Last year, a young woman from your town assisted my father after he was in a terrible car accident. My father was very impressed by this young woman’s small act of kindness and after months of searching for this girl, my father has passed. He asked that I keep trying to find her to give her his thanks.
“I called the ambulance company to ask if anyone there had caught the name of the girl that aided my father and one of the technicians replied that she was from your community (Picayune area) and was named Rhianna Bebe. That is the best I can think to spell the name that he pronounced.
“My father wanted to find her and give her a special thanks himself, but recently passed from complications unrelated to the accident. He wanted to “Get her on the front page of the newspaper.” As I am sure this cannot be done, I would like to be able to see it in the newspaper so that I can cut it out and place it with his memorabilia as requested. My father wrote the following passage in a diary that I was instructed to give the girl who changed his life and bought him a little time:
(He wrote)
“I cannot remember the exact day, but I know it was 30 degrees and stormy as all get out. For one small second, I took my eyes off of the road to adjust my mirror and found myself rolling down an embankment. When the car came to a stop I felt some pressure on my legs and looked up to see the car, belly side up, my legs pinned underneath.
“I tried to keep as calm as possible. I heard rubber screeching on the pavement which seemed so far away. Seconds later a young woman appeared by my side and began to take her coat off. She draped it over me and asked me if I knew where I was and what my name was. I replied ‘Sergeant Major Jasper.’ I will never forget the words she said next. I quote ‘Well Sarge, looks like the Lord decided to cross our paths today.’
“She was right. I had to make my mind up that I was underneath this car for a reason and the Lord sent such a young girl to come help me out. Until that very moment, I never believed in God or a higher power. She then laid beside me on the cold,wet, muddy ground and grabbed my hand. I couldn’t help but notice a small tattoo on her index finger that read ‘LIVE’. She must have seen me looking because she lifted her hand and held up her hand as if to count to one, and said she had that tattoo to remind her to live like she only has one day left.
“It was then that I realized, God really did put us here to help each other. I was pinned under that car, but learned so much about myself and the man she called God’s saving grace. She would’ve been a victim to my judgmental ways had I seen her on the street, but her saving my life was a different story.
“I always assumed that young people were selfish and unthankful and for this I was ashamed. She grabbed my hand again and said ‘Sir, may I pray for you?’ After I accepted, she started to talk to God like He was there with us. She prayed for me, a stranger, like I had been a friend of hers all of her life.
“I began to cry at the beauty of this prayer and the kindness of this young stranger. Afterwards, she took the time to thank me for my service to the United States Marine Corps and told me that she appreciated it very much. I heard the sirens in the distance and I asked her why she was out on this back country road on such a nasty day, and she replied that she was visiting her best friend’s grave and watched my car flip off the embankment as she pulled onto the road. I started to lose consciousness and remember her singing ‘Amazing Grace’ to me.
“That was my last memory of that scene and the angel on earth that God sent to save me on that nasty day.”
Jacques writes, “I find myself in tears each time I read this. My father had to have one of his legs from the knee down amputated after getting an infection. It took some of his pride away and after that he really didn’t have much fight left in him. He recently passed away from congestive heart failure.
“We laid him to rest a few weeks ago and I have/will not stop searching for this young woman as a promise to my father. After speaking with the EMTs, I can see that my dad was not mistaken about the character of this woman. The EMTs said that she even prayed over them when they were leaving the scene.
“She wrote my father a note, which he had buried with him in his coat pocket. I had the chance to photograph it and will attach it in a later e-mail should you find this girl and make my father’s dreams come true by simply publishing this. It read ‘Sarge, when you are healed remember to LIVE like you only have one day. I claim by faith that your health will be restored. Thank you for being a blessing to me today. Please read -Luke 6:38.’
“He had a check and Purple Heart medal to give to her once he found her. Since he could not, he has instructed me to find Rhianna and left the check and medal with me to give to her to aid her in her educational endeavors and as a thank you for her small act of kindness. My father accepted Christ on New Year’s Eve of this year, (a prayer) my family has been praying to be answered for so long. This hardworking, tough-hearted man I had known all of my life turned into a tender-hearted, Godly man over night. Rhianna’s kind words were a testament that I hope one day I can live up to and change a family’s life like she has ours.
“I would like to give these things my father has left to her in person if possible. Please contact me, as this is all the information that I have about this hero my Daddy called his “Amazing Grace Angel.”
“Sincerely, Mary Ellen Jacques”
ReAnna Beebe, 22, was the young woman whom Jacques was so desperately searching for and was in shock when family members notified her about Jacques public appeal to find her.
Beebe, who is in college and working towards a degree in forensic nursing, said, “I’m still kind of in shock about all of it.”
Beebe was on her Sunday trip from her friend’s grave site when she took an alternate route home that cold and rainy day in December of last year.
“My friend, Kendall Galmiche, passed away in 2005 and I usually visit his grave on Sundays. I grew up with him, my whole life, and he was like a brother to me. I left the grave that day and went a different direction on the way home from what I normally take.”
As she was positioned to turn off the rarely traveled road, she saw the accident.
“I saw the vehicle veer off of the road and I put my hazards on and ran down the hill. At first I couldn’t see anyone and looked for someone that had been ejected. When I went around the car I saw him and ran to him. I asked if he knew where he was and he introduced himself as a Master Sargeant Jasper. I felt I should acknowledge his service to our country so I called him Sarge.
“The ambulance came and I backed off to let the medics try to get him out of the car. To be honest, when they got there and were lifting the car off him, I had to do something to distract myself. I thought that writing him a note would be the best thing to do. I only told my sister and one other person. I thought that was the end of the story,” she said.
It is far from the end of the story.
Beebe and Jacques have been communicating via email for the last week and plan to meet in person for Jacques to present her with her father’s medal.
Beebe has declined the check and asked that the money be donated to Gideons International for Bibles to be distributed in Jasper’s name.
She said, “I am not a hero; I only led Sarge to my hero. I have asked the family to please purchase Bibles, either from Gideon International or some other organization, in tribute to their dad. If the Bible speaks to the heart of someone who picks this Bible up and finds Sarge’s name inside the Bible, they will be brought to the Lord by him. That way the cycle never stops.
“I have prayed so hard for Mr. Jasper and his family since I walked away from that scene and words can’t even begin to tell you how my life was touched by him. I never got the slightest inclination that he was not a man of God; but I guess that just goes to show you that not every Christian is sharp dressed and not every lost soul is the opposite. I am not a woman that is into fashion, that just isn’t me and as you know I have tattoos. I am that person who people see on the street and prejudge. I guess you just never really know if the person you prejudge will be the person that saves your life later down the road.”
In an email to the “Item,” Jacques said, “Thank you ever so much. I can rest easy now. I have been in tears this whole weekend. I will be in touch as soon as possible. Thank you! THANK YOU! Thank you!”
Beebe said, “I have learned so much from this experience. I am very honored to be the one who was with Sarge that day and I’m glad the Lord gave me the right words.”
