Couple gives stranded prom-goers a lift when their limo breaks down
A group of 14 high school students were on their way to prom when their limousine broke down — but miraculously, a couple celebrating their anniversary happened to drive by and save the day.
Jewel Utley and her friends from Ben Bolt High School were en route to dinner when their limo broke down in Corpus Christi, Texas. They were told a new limo would be on its way to them, but they’d have to push their meal reservations — and it was dreadfully hot, Utley’s mother Marisa Trevino told Yahoo Lifestyle. “The next phone call was about an hour later,” she said, “to tell me about the Parks.”
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The Parks, it turns it out, were Jacob and Christina Parks, a couple marking their 17th anniversary and searching for the perfect restaurant to celebrate, according to KIII-TV. When they stumbled upon the stranded teens all dressed up and stressed out on the side of the freeway, they just felt they just had to make a U-turn and help.
“The first thing that came to mind was ‘Oh my gosh, their hair and their makeup. They must have put so much effort into this.’ I was like, ‘We gotta stop,'” Christina Parks told KIII-TV. “I was like, ‘Hey we have room for six in the back. Who wants to get in?'” So, seven kids — including Utley — rode with the Parkses, and the other seven got a lift from parents.
And that’s how the teens were able to make it to dinner at the restaurant Salt Grass. The couple decided to stay and dine at the restaurant, too, but sat at a different table.
“We didn’t know what we were gonna eat, so we said, might as well eat here,” said Jacob Parks, a military veteran.
But the prom-goers’ strange misfortune wasn’t over yet. During dinner, the San Antonio-based limo company contacted the teens to tell them they wouldn’t be able to send a replacement limo after all, Trevino told Yahoo Lifestyle. Enter the married couple to the rescue again.
“At that point, [they] told our kids not to worry, and they began calling local limo companies in Corpus Christi,” Trevino said.
The couple were able to secure a new limo. Meanwhile, the teens had already chipped in to pay for the Parkses’ dinner.
“My daughter is a very kind and giving individual. She always tries to fill needs for those that might need help,” Trevino said. “So having her experience this and listening to her amazement about the Parkses’ generosity just made my heart smile.”
The teens were able to make it to their prom by 10:30, even though it started at 8:30. Utley and all of the students say they’re eternally grateful to the Parks for their impromptu chauffeuring and chaperone duties.
“Thank you for everything they did for us,” student Brian Gutierrez told KIII-TV. “It’ll be something I’ll never forget.”
Neither will Trevino.
“[They] were the perfect example to my daughter and her friends [on] what it means to pay it forward and how important a random act of kindness can be,” she told Yahoo Lifestyle. “They would’ve missed prom if it weren’t for the Parkses!”
Trevino said she’s communicated with the Parkses on Facebook “and I hope to meet them personally in the near future.”
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