Best of America: Highway Helper

Stopping and helping others is this man's self-satisfying vocation.

By Bridget Nelson Monroe
From Reader's Digest
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Thomas Weller with his 1955 Ford station wagon.
Brent Foster/LA Times
Thomas Weller with his 1955 Ford station wagon.
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One thousand forty dollars: That's how much Thomas Weller shelled out to keep his gas tank full in July. The self-employed 60-year-old mechanic doesn't have to spend his spare time on the road, but it's a hard habit to break. Since 1966, he has cruised the San Diego highways looking for motorists flummoxed by flat tires and dead batteries. He pulls up in what was once a 1955 Ford station wagon ("I put it together from pieces"), grabs his tools, and fixes the problem-at no charge.

"My wife does worry about me, but I'm pretty careful," he says. One 1970 stop still gives him chills. A car had broken down in the middle of the road, and the family were waiting in it for help. He persuaded them to stay behind a pillar while he drove to a store to call the highway patrol. When he came back minutes later, all he could see was black smoke where the car had been. Another vehicle had hit it, killing the other driver.

Weller was once a stranded motorist himself. Driving in an Illinois blizzard when he was 16, he got stuck in a snowdrift. The man who pulled him out waved off payment, saying, "Just pass it on." And that's exactly what Weller is doing. His business cards don't have his name or number on it, just this: "Assisting you has been my pleasure. I ask for no payment other than for you to pass on the favor by helping someone in distress that you may encounter."

Once in a while, someone recognizes the "San Diego Highwayman" and his pieced-together vehicle at a gas station and insists on filling the tank, which eases the sting of fuel costs. After all, it'll take more than high gas prices to stop Weller. "It gives me a reason to get up," he says. "This is what I do, and I'm good at it."
From Reader's Digest - November 2008
 
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Yup, There's always a danger -- usually jist from errant vehicles w inattentive or impaired drivers -- but I've had "situations" come up a couple of times over my years a doin -- luckily they come out different fer me -- sorry bout yer friend smccurdy

By Sanj Diego Highwayman, on 10/27/2009
smccurdy that is so sad :(

By NASclark, on 12/04/2008
a few years ago, a good freind of mine, an off duty highway patrolman, stopped to help a motorists and lost his life. The fellow was lying over his hood and looked like he had an injury or heart attack. In reality, he was a meth dealer and overpowered the young man who stopped to help him. Despite pleas from this young man for the sake of his young wife and three little girls, the fellon shot and killed him. I applaud this man who helps people, but it's very dangerous.

By smccurdy, on 11/04/2008
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