By Chad Wellman
On the morning of 11 February our lives changed forever. I was at home in Gunnison, Colorado, getting ready for work when my phone buzzed with an alert: “Hard Fall SOS.” My mom, Grace’s, smartwatch had detected a hard fall and notified emergency services – and me, since I was listed as an emergency contact. With the alert was a surprisingly accurate map of the “hard fall” location, an on-ramp to Interstate Highway 95 near Florence, South Carolina, USA.
Grace and my dad, Phil, were traveling in their RV when they had an accident with another vehicle. Both vehicles burned. Grace was lost instantly. Miraculously, Phil and the two family dogs were unharmed. But my dad, left with nothing, was stranded in South Carolina, far from his home in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in a place where none of us had any connections.
Our entire family – all seven of us – began making our way from five separate towns across Colorado. Our main concern was getting to Dad and making sure he wasn’t alone. He had always been there for us in our times of need. Now it was our turn.
Knowing Dad was a longtime Rotarian (a member of the Rotary Club of Hampton Roads, Norfolk, Virginia), a family friend contacted the Rotary Club of Florence West and asked if anyone could stay with him until we arrived at the hotel where he had been transported after the accident.
Over the years, I’ve attended Rotary meetings with Dad in various parts of the country. Rotary aligned closely with his values and it matched his deep sense of service and generosity. It was such a relief to hear from David Boulware, who along with several other local Rotary members dropped everything to be by Phil’s side. We had never met them, yet the bond was immediate, and their acts of kindness were heartfelt and generous.
The Rotarians brought Dad a new phone charger, medications, clothes, a toothbrush, and food for the dogs. But just having someone there with him was more important than a change of clothes, a shower, or any material needs. I’m sure stories were shared that day, and I imagine the camaraderie in that little roadside hotel room was tangible.
But it went beyond that. During their time together, Dad told them about the things his Rotary club did, including delivering care packages to first responders. Within days, the Florence West club decided to do the same. The name they gave the program? Sharing Grace, in honor of Mom.
From the whole family, we are deeply grateful to the Rotary family for stepping up that day. None of us planned to spend the day that way, but their kindness made the experience more bearable as we scrambled through the chaos of weather delays, airplanes, rental cars, and hotel bookings. Once reunited in Florence, we came together as a family to start making the hard decisions and begin piecing our lives back together.
It’s remarkable that on the worst day of our lives, one of the first things Poppa said to us when we arrived in South Carolina was, “Wow, people are good.”
I’m writing this in June while waiting at the airport in Des Moines, Iowa, for my dad to pick me up for the final stretch of our journey back to Colorado for the summer. Grace was always by his side on this annual trip. This year, his brother Harvey joined him for the first leg, and I’m taking the second. We’ve been on many adventures, and Grace was always part of them.
She taught school for 30 years, was an avid animal lover, and volunteered to transport dogs for an animal shelter. Gracie had recently graduated from a Senior Citizens Police Academy in Virginia Beach, and was active in her church, book club, and Jazzercise class. She was joyful, fun, and a force for goodness.
Grace’s spirit lives on in the spirit of Rotary and the support and fellowship its members have extended to us and countless others.
https://blog.rotary.org/2025/08/07/in-our-familys-time-of-need-rotarians-were-there/