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Our city, Louisville, Ky., suffered a tremendous loss of power in the recent ice storms, the worst in our history. The power went out at 5:30 a.m. Jan. 28 in my little apartment. We then had one of the coldest winters on record.
In my neighborhood, we were cold, and I mean COLD. I would go to bed wondering if I would wake up in the morning. Being cold greatly affects your judgment, and you don’t think clearly; honestly, your brain just doesn’t work.
At 5:30 p.m. Jan. 31, I saw the yellow lights and a truck coming down the street. I ran outside. It was two good old Southern boys from Gainesville. I cried I was so glad to see them. I just held the one guy’s hand. In a wonderful Southern drawl, he said he couldn’t promise me anything. I said, "I will pray so very hard for you so you all are safe."
They went down the street and immediately put up their big bucket and started working. When I went to bed at 8 p.m., they were still working. At 1:30 a.m. Feb. 1, my electricity came on! I jumped out of bed, put on my coat, ran to my neighbors and said "Oh my God, am I dreaming? Pinch me, hit me, anything to let me know this is real!"
Well, it was real. Those Georgia Power boys had done it. This is a big old Kentucky thank you to those guys who reassured me, held my hand, and told me it would be OK; to the city for sending them up here to help; and lastly to their families for giving them up to come help us.
We did have deaths in our city. I think those who died were just cold and not thinking clearly and make fatal mistakes. But I thank God for those Georgia boys, and I continue to pray for them every day and will until the day I die.
Thank you so very much. You have no idea what you did when you hit that switch. You saved so many lives. I can hear them right now saying, "aw, it was nothing." It was everything to me and all the others who got their electricity back that morning.
I absolutely owe my life to them, because I don’t think I could have gone on much longer.
Saying "thank you, Gainesville and Georgia Power guys" just doesn’t seem like enough. It’s all I can say. But, I can tell you, we throw a heck of a party here in Louisville the first week of May when the Kentucky Derby is run. You all come on back. We will treat you right.
Dianna Huddleston
Louisville, Ky.