Willie Whitlock
SYRACUSE -- Ann Wiley rarely gets rattled under pressure. She’s been a nurse since 1949. Until this summer, she taught at the Crouse School of Nursing. She was there for 33 years, but Wiley gave it up when the hospital asked if she could go full-time. At 87, she didn’t want much more than a part-time job. That might provide a reason why Wiley didn’t panic when things went wrong on an afternoon drive through Syracuse.
Wiley was traveling from her home in Skaneateles to visit her son in DeWitt, just two days after she had taken her car in for an inspection and had her tires rotated. She figures that explains what happened next.
Just after turning from Seneca Turnpike onto South Salina Street on the city’s south side, she felt a trembling in her vehicle. It turned into a thumping noise, which quickly went from the irritating to the terrifying as a front tire popped off and went bounding away. She managed to guide the car to the side of the road as the careening tire headed for a passing vehicle driven by Willie Whitlock.
Whitlock immediately pulled over and studied the situation. Another passerby, Fletcher Nicholson assisted, Whitlock and the two remounted the tire. To make sure Wiley was 100 percent safe, the good neighbors went to buy another lug nut and mounted it strong and secure.
Ann Wiley gratefully says “there are blessed people everywhere and you never know where you will find them.”
