HOLCOMB — Gene and Anita Morgan had what most consider the American dream — a comfortable home and work they loved and in which they were successful.
But on May 19, “everything changed,” Anita says.
Gene, called a “master carpenter” by his friend and physician Dr. Henry Flautt, was traveling home to Greenwood from a building project at Pickwick Lake on a new motorcycle he had gotten for his birthday. He had left his sons, Kris and Brent, who were working with him, behind to travel down the Natchez Trace on his bike.
They were pulling a trailer, not allowed on the Trace, so they were not behind Gene as he turned onto U.S. 82 East. Just as he approached the Tomnolen community, he remembers only a slight something in his peripheral vision — and then nothing at all. An 87-year-old driver had pulled into his lane and run over Gene, stopping her car on top of him.
Horribly hurt, he would have likely died at the scene except for a gathering of volunteer firefighters having a cookout nearby. The 20 or so firefighters ran to the scene, pulled the car off Gene and summoned a helicopter, which arrived in about seven minutes from Winona.
“They’re the only reason I survived,” Gene says.
It was just the beginning of a long road to where he is today — in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down, but happy to be alive and with his loving family.
Anita remembers the call from the fire chief at Tomnolen on Gene’s cellphone. A Greenwood real estate agent, she had been showing a house. She called her cousin at Teoc, and her cousin raced to meet her and daughter-in-law Sherry and drove them as fast as possible to the hospital.
“A chaplain met us at the door and took us to a private room,” she said. “A doctor came and told us they would take a CT scan of Gene’s body and get back to us with a report of his injuries in about an hour. We didn’t see them until the next morning. He said they were not able to leave Gene because they feared he would die.”
There were seven surgeries, and three times his heart stopped. Each time Anita, Kris and Brent visited the intensive care unit of the Elvis Presley Trauma Center at the Med in Memphis, they wondered if it would be the last time they would see him alive.
“My face was covered in blood, but my injuries were so bad, they didn’t worry about that,” he said.
But each time there was a crisis, he pulled through. He says he felt optimistic, despite all of the setbacks.
“Once I got to where I knew anything I felt like I was going to make it, I didn’t know why,” he said. “This helped strengthen my faith. Before, I had lots of theological doubts. This made me reaffirm my faith in God.”
The accident also changed him in other ways.
“I don’t feel as strong and in control as before when you see how fragile life is,” he said.
After a couple of months in Memphis, Gene was brought to Greenwood Leflore Hospital for therapy, but when a malignant tumor was found on a kidney, he had to have surgery for that.
“There are some good people there,” he says.
Now he is hoping to get into a rehabilitation center to improve his ability to regain as much movement and strength as possible.
The whole family is staying together now at the home of Kris and his wife, Sherry, in Holcomb. The house in Greenwood is no longer suitable. While Gene was recovering, Brent and Kris went over to see to what they could do to make it work for their dad, knowing he would have to navigate it in a wheelchair.
“They pulled my dad’s wheelchair through the house and looked at every angle -- hallways, doors,” Anita said. “They decided that because of the age of the house and the way it was built it would be impossible to make handicap-accessible. So they started to work on a house plan and brought it to the hospital before we came home.”
Always a close family — Anita says Gene always spent lots of time with the boys — they’re even closer now, they say.
“I took them hunting when they were young, even if I didn’t kill anything,” Gene says.
And both learned construction from their dad: “I taught them everything I know.”
Their former home is now for sale, and Brent and Kris have started work on a handicap-accessible home for their mother and father on land Kris and Sherry own near Holcomb.
Anita looks forward to having a place where Gene can help her cook.
“He’s my prep man. And he makes great cookies,” she said — adding, “He has lots of people to make cookies for.” He agreed readily.
Flautt has known the Morgan family for many years and kept in touch throughout the ordeal.
“He’s an old friend. I was thinking one day about how I could help, and I began to believe I could assist Kris and Brent to build a house for their dad to live in,” Flautt said. “He has a loving family, and his sons were going to do it no matter what, but I wanted to help them do it without a lot of debt.”
Flautt talked with others who know and have worked with Gene, and they volunteered to help.
“Nobody said no. I went to see Brother Jim Phillips, the pastor of North Greenwood Baptist Church, where the Morgans are members,” Flautt said. “He said, ‘Do you need money or hands?’”
Flautt’s sister, an architect in Atlanta, has worked with Gene on home projects and has modified houses for handicap access. She agreed to help with design.
“They are good people. They need a house. It’s a very worthwhile project,” Flautt said.
He hopes to raise money, along with contributions of materials and labor.
The Morgans are astounded at the outpouring of love and support from the community — from friends and also from their church, though they say they didn’t attend regularly.
“They’ve gone over and above anything you could expect,” Gene said.
One man, whose house Gene built 20 years ago, called and offered to bring a fish supper to the hospital. “He cooked crappie, with all the trimmings, and brought it to me,” Gene said.
The family has also surrounded Gene with love and care, and they feel blessed to have two wonderful caretakers, Mary Dollison and Elenora Mason, cousins and both employed by a local nursing home, who assist in Gene’s care.
“They take care of him and me, too,” Anita said. “We love them like family. A trainer who works at Greenwood High School also comes to help Gene exercise. He does a wonderful job.”
Daughter-in-law Sherry is a dialysis nurse over five clinics and GLH’s dialysis unit. “She is very instrumental in Gene getting the best care he can get,” Anita said.
Life now is “the new normal,” Kris said. Kris and Brent have bought their dad a golf cart, and they hope he will progress to be able to ride around in it and enjoy some outdoor activities. Right now, they just want to encourage their dad to continue to improve.
Gene is pretty circumspect about it all.
“I’ve had a great 58 years,” he said. “There are many people who are young and going through difficulties that haven’t had that. It’s a comfort to know the boys are grown and can take care of themselves.
“Self pity would just make it bad for the whole family,” he said. “I’m trying to make the best out of it. I’ve never been a quitter.”
