Stranded in Snow Storm, Bus Driver Walks for Help

On February, 4, 1956 John D. Hearon, was driving a Continental Trailways bus bound from Amarillo, Texas to Tucumcari, New Mexico.

John wasn’t anyone famous or powerful — just a working man doing his job. But his actions on this trip turned him into a hero.

That day, a record-setting blizzard swept across the High Plains. Winds howled, snow drifted shoulder-high, and visibility fell to nothing.

Somewhere west of Adrian, Texas, near the state line, Hearon’s bus bogged down in the snow and refused to budge.

He kept his passengers calm, doing what he could to conserve heat and reassure them, but as the hours wore on it became clear that no help was coming. The highway was deserted. Snow was piling higher by the minute.

Hearon made a decision: he bundled himself up as best he could, stepped out into that blinding storm, and started walking. He followed the telephone poles that paralleled Route 66, counting each one in the whiteout. The snow was waist-deep in places, the wind cutting like glass.

He trudged mile after mile. He traveled thirteen or fourteen miles. He finally staggered into the little border town of Glenrio, Texas. There he collapsed near a diner, owned by Joseph Brownlee.

John was barely conscious, his face burned and swollen from the cold. Folks in Glenrio rushed to his aid. They got him warm. When they heard about the stranded passengers, they gathered trucks, blankets, and shovels. Then they headed back out into the storm. Thanks to their combined effort, every passenger on that bus was rescued alive.

John himself suffered from exposure, exhaustion, and snow blindness. He spent time in a Tucumcari hospital recovering, and when newspapers got wind of what he’d done, they called him a hero — the man who walked through hell and snow to save his passengers.