Summer Alvey, a 12-year-old seventh grader at Washington Junior High School, is considered a hero to her neighbor.
And all she did was come home from the movies.
On that cold, dark Friday night of Feb. 22, Alvey was dropped off at her house after watching a movie at the theater. Earlier that day, she had asked her mom if she could stay at a friend’s house after the movie, but her mother told her no and to come home after the show. Instead of arguing, Alvey agreed to come home.
“I knew for some reason when I asked my mom that question and she said ‘no,’ I felt like I didn’t want to argue with her and I usually do argue,” said Alvey.
As Alvey was arriving home on Washington Avenue around 9 p.m., she heard someone calling for help. She looked around and discovered her elderly neighbor, Bessie Palmer, on the ground.
“It was dark and I was getting out of the car, and then I see this lady right next door to me on the ground,” Alvey said.
Palmer, her 84-year-old neighbor, had been on her way to make sure her car was locked when she slid on the sidewalk and fell backwards.
Palmer landed on her back and couldn’t move. She said she was lying there for about five or 10 minutes before Alvey arrived.
“It was dark,” Palmer said. “I couldn’t move and I just hollered ‘Help! Help!’”
Palmer, who has lived at the same address for almost 50 years, said if Summer had not came home and heard her, she would have not been able to get back up and would have been there all night.
“I’ve got Parkinson’s,” Palmer said. “I don’t shake as some people do.”
After seeing Palmer, Alvey ran into her house and told her mother, Sarah Alvey, that Palmer had fallen and to come outside and try to help her up. They, along with Sarah Alvey’s boyfriend, ran outside to help Palmer off the ground. Sarah Alvey and her boyfriend carefully picked her up and walked her inside her house.
The next day, Summer Alvey called Palmer to see how she was doing. Palmer suffered from some lower back pain, but said she wasn’t hurt too badly. She also thanked Summer and Sarah Alvey for helping her off the ground and into the house.
Even before that Friday night, the Alveys have tried to help their neighbor as best as they could. But since then they have helped out Palmer. Also, Palmer’s family comes in every night to check on Bessie.
“We try to keep an eye out on her now,” said Sarah Alvey.
As for Palmer, she laughed when asked if she was grateful Summer came home when she did.
“I told them I was going to make them some fudge,” said Palmer. “I am going to do it.”
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