28 REMINISCE.COM * SEPTEMBER 2019
A Heck of a Ride
by
Neal Murphy • San Augustine, TXDURING THE SUMMER OF
1956, I worked for the Wyman
Roberts Funeral Home in my
hometown in Texas. In those
days, funeral homes provided
ambulance service—and that was
one of my duties at Wyman
Roberts (along with driving the
hearse). I had some experience
with emergency response: While
at Baylor University the previous
spring, I’d worked for the A-1
Ambulance service in Waco.
The funeral home’s ambulance
was a 1956 Pontiac with a cot,
two red lights mounted on the
grille, and a siren. It couldn’t
match today’s emergency
vehicles, but we made do.
One Sunday afternoon, a
two-car crash on U.S. Route 96
left two women badly hurt. Their
injuries were so severe they had
to be transferred for treatment to
Houston, about three hours away.
We loaded the patients into
the back of the Pontiac and a
nurse settled next to them on
a stool to monitor their condition.
I’d worked out my route—
Jasper, Woodville, Livingston,
Cleveland, Houston—but I wasnervous about getting there
quickly without endangering the
patients. My heart leapt every
time we went through a red light
at an intersection.
As we neared Houston,
freeway drivers weren’t pullingover for my siren, so I called the
Harris County sheriff from a pay
phone, asking for an escort.
I soon spotted the patrol car
ahead of me, and the race was on.
He sped off, driving much faster
than I wanted to go, but since I
had no clue where the hospital
was, I had no choice but to stay
right with him.
The deputy was charging down
Fannin Street in busy downtown
Houston, hopping lanes, dodging
vehicles and even nudging the
curb at one point. And I was
repeating every hop, dodge and
nudge. When the hospital finally
came into view, I breathed a sigh
of relief.
We got the patients safely
inside and I went over to shake
the deputy’s hand.
“That was a heck of a ride,”
I told him.
He laughed. “All in a day’s work.”As we neared Houston,
freeway drivers
weren’t pulling over
for my siren.
DRIVING AN
AMBULANCE
in Waco, Texas,
wasn’t enough to
prepare Neal (right)
for a wild trip
behind a speedy
sheriff’s deputy.