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Saturday, January 20, 2018

From Grandpa and Grandma Frye - "Ronald's Gone"

This is a memorable (and scary) family story my grandparents, Kenneth and Elizabeth Frye, recorded about a tragic incident that happened to their son Ronald (my uncle) during a family trip. Grandpa recorded the story in an audio interview, and grandma recorded the story two separate times in a journal. I combined the three accounts into this adaption, and the original sources can be accessed using the links at the very bottom. Here is the story:

"Ronald's Gone"

1951 Mercury Sedan
Rear-hinged doors in the back
In May 1951, Kenneth and Elizabeth Frye traded in their Cadillac for a beautiful, new Mercury. It was a good sized car and the rear passenger doors were rear-hinged which opened from front to back. This configuration came to be known as “suicide doors” because when a door was opened while moving, the wind would push against the door making it difficult to close.

In December, Kenneth and Elizabeth drove their new car from Washington D.C. to Missouri to visit Kenneth's family. They were accompanied by four of their young children – Kenny (~10 years), Cheryl (~8 years), Ronald (~6 years) and Michael (~4 years). The children were used to traveling and were obedient to precautions and warnings they were given. The drive to Missouri and the time spent there was uneventful of any difficulty.

1951 Mercury Sedan
The back seat & no seat-belts
On the return trip to Washington D.C., they were in the Toledo/Zanesville, Ohio area. Elizabeth was in the back seat sleeping – or at least trying – among laughing and playful children. They were cruising the highway at about 65 miles per hour. All the doors were locked. Ronald and Michael were also in the back seat with mother, while Kenny and Cheryl were in the front with father.

Suddenly, a great blast of air filled the car strong enough that it caused the car to swerve. Kenneth had to fight the steering wheel to keep control of the car. The strong blast of air awoke Elizabeth, and both she and Kenneth heard the words, presumably from Michael, “Ronald's gone!”

Elizabeth's blood ran cold when she noticed the right-rear back door was open and Ronald was missing! Michael began reaching for the open door, but Kenneth reached back and strongly pushed him back into Elizabeth’s arms. (Cars at the time did not have seat-belts to restrain children or passengers.)

1951 Mercury Sedan
Through the rear-view mirror, Kenneth saw Ronald rolling like a tumbleweed on the shoulder of the road. With panic and fear, Kenneth thought surely Ronald was dead. He stopped the car about a block from where Ronald had fallen. A cloud of dust obscured Elizabeth's view through the back window. She was certain no one could have survived a fall from a car moving at 65 miles an hour, and at the least every bone in Ronald’s body would be broken.

Elizabeth got out of the car and started back to Ronald, but she felt she should get back in the car and say a quick prayer. Kenneth was also getting out of the car, but before he left, Elizabeth put her hand on his shoulder and told him to wait so a little prayer could be uttered. Kenneth's immediate reaction was the opposite and he almost said, “Now is no time to pray! Now is the time for action!” However, Elizabeth offered a quick prayer and after which Kenneth ran back to Ronald.

By the time Kenneth arrived, Ronald was already standing on his feet! Kenneth couldn't believe it and was shocked that Ronald had survived. He was bleeding, burned, cut and scraped but was not crying from physical pain. Instead, he was crying because he had ripped his new overall jeans! Ronald was more worried about his jeans than himself!

Kenneth asked Ronald to take a few steps. He did and Kenneth asked if he was able to walk to the car. However, Elizabeth and a bystander who had stopped at the scene insisted it was not a good idea to have Ronald walk. Ronald was then carried to the car by Kenneth and/or the bystander.

The same bystander who had stopped escorted Kenneth and Elizabeth to the next town about 15-30 miles away. There they found a motorcycle policeman and explained the situation to him. Turning on his siren, the motorcycle policeman then drove at very high speeds to lead them to a hospital in Zanesville (Ohio). The officer drove so fast they could hardly keep up but had to because they didn't know where to go and it was getting dark outside. Part of the drive included a very winding road to the top of a hill where the hospital was located. Elizabeth thought the fast-paced drive was the most frightening ride of her life and that everyone was going to end up in the hospital injured.

They safely arrived at the hospital then had to wait another hour and a half to see a doctor. Ronald was eventually examined and x-rays were taken. No bones were broken and no teeth were knocked out, but he was cut and scraped quite a bit, and his lips were very swollen. Ronald was bandaged and cleaned up and admitted for overnight for observation. Hospital rules did not allow parents to stay with their children, so Kenneth, Elizabeth, and the children stayed at a nearby hotel.

Frye family taken 1 December 1950 at their house
 2005 32nd Place S.E., Washington D.C.
Back row (left to right): Kenneth Sr., Kenneth Jr., Elizabeth
Front row (left to right): Cheryl, Ronald, Michael 
The following day Ronald was discharged from the hospital. Before leaving, however, Kenneth had tied the front and back doors together so they could not come open. They had discovered that locking their new car from the inside did no good as a passenger could raise the handle to unlock the door. Their Cadillac doors stayed locked until a knob was pulled up, but they hadn't had the new Mercury long enough to realize the doors would unlock by just raising the handle. (Kenneth had previously purchased some devices to keep the Mercury's doors closed, but he had forgotten about them since they were in the car's glove box and they weren't installed.)

Without any further incident, the family soon arrived back home in Washington D.C.. Elizabeth later recorded, “I am thankful I took the time to say a prayer in our son's behalf.” Kenneth later said, “I could not believe that such a miraculous thing could happen to me or my son or my family. I have no doubt that through divine action […] the prayer my good wife had uttered was answered.”


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Below is the original audio recording of Kenneth Frye telling the story on Tuesday, March 25, 1997:

This audio clip is part of an interview with Kenneth Leroy Frye Sr. done by his daughters, Linda (Hartley) and Cheryl (Locey), on Tuesday, March 25, 1997. The interview took place at Cheryl's house in Alamo, California. Linda was there in California on spring break and away from her home in Murray, Utah.

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Here are links to the accounts written by Elizabeth Frye about the story:





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* My grandpa Kenneth Frye stated in an audio recording they purchased a new Nash. This is a different model than what my Grandma Elizabeth Frye recorded. Grandma Frye was known to keep good notes, and she recorded in a journal they purchased a new Mercury. Mercury was also manufactured by Ford, and Grandpa Frye was known to be a big Ford fan, so it makes sense they could have purchased a Mercury. Regardless, both the Nash and Mercury models at the time (1951 and thereabouts) both had rear-hinged doors, so it does not change the story.

** Linda was probably alive at the time of the story and nearly one year old. Michael Frye, a son of Kenneth and Elizabeth, indicated the family also commonly used a nanny and it was very possible Linda stayed with the nanny while the rest of the family was on the trip.

Adaption and footnotes written by Thomas Hartley, grandson to Kenneth and Elizabeth Frye. January 20, 2018. Kenneth and Elizabeth's children, Michael and Linda (my mother), were consulted about the story and reviewed and approved the adaption.

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