Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Spaghetti dinner to raise funds
Gary Cox and Carol Richey are looking to make ends meet while Cox recovers from an unfortunate accident suffered in December.
HARRINGTON-Gary Cox and Carol Richey were enjoying new beginnings here last Christmas break. The couple engaged to be wed in April 2024 had moved themselves and their five children from Spokane seeking a smaller city experience and better schooling for the kids.
Times were tough financially, but Cox had a job driving a semitruck to make ends meet. Then, on Dec. 23, 2022, disaster struck.
He was driving a semi across Snoqualmie Pass in disastrous winter conditions that included heavy snow and ice toward Kent to conclude a cross-country trip that began in Yakima, stopped in Sundance, New Jersey, began again in Quakertown, Pennsylvania and featured two unexpected pit stops in Wyoming due to massive snow amounts.
At North Bend, he stopped, pulled over and got out of his truck to apply chains for safer travels amidst the conditions. He then turned and saw a vehicle lose control and head right toward him.
"I only had about two and a half or three seconds of reaction time," Cox said.
Cox jumped into the air to avoid the car making full impact, but it still contacted his body's lower half.
"The car actually pinned me to the truck and then launched me," Cox said. "I landed in the road where oncoming traffic was and had to crawl in front of my truck to avoid the traffic."
Cox was lucky to be alive but had broken his pelvis in three places. He struck good fortune when a 20-year emergency doctor and 10-year firefighter, both off-duty, happened to be two of the civilians that pulled off the road to assist him.
"I truly believe that those people are why he's here today," an emotional Richey said.
Cox needed emergency surgery, but a normally 15-20 minute ambulance ride to Bellevue took 45 minutes because of the poor conditions and ice storm that had swept the West Side. It took the ambulance 45 more minutes to even arrive at his North Bend location.
He said he grabbed his phone when he got in the ambulance and was asked by paramedics if he needed to make any phone calls.
"I said I needed to call my fiancée," he said. "Then I figured I should probably call my boss, too."
Surgeons inserted six screws on his backside and three in front. It took Richey three days to drive to him from Harrington because of winter driving conditions.
"I had joked with him before the trip that he had better make it home for Christmas," she said. "When they called me and told me he had been in an accident, I thought they were joking."
Cox is alive to tell his story, but has a long road of recovery ahead. He'll spend a total of 10-12 weeks in a wheelchair, followed by six to eight months using a walker.
"The doctor said it'll probably be a year before I regain full function," he said.
The accident has created another financial hardship for Cox and Richey. Richey has taken a job at the Tribune Smokehouse in Davenport, but started Wednesday, Feb. 1 and therefore won't receive a paycheck for a couple weeks. Cox can't return to work while he goes through physical therapy, and he said settlement funds and potential Social Security assistance could take months.
"I initially didn't want to put our family business out there," he said.
The family decided to start a GoFundMe to help make ends meet in the meantime. It currently has raised $1,333 of a $10,000 goal and is titled "Stronger than anyone I know," which Richey named in honor of her fiancée.
"We figured $10,000 would cover us for a month or so," Richey said.
The community has already been assisting the family by bringing meals, as organized by kindergarten teacher Taunya Sanford. Now, the Booster Club has created a spaghetti dinner to raise money for the family.
The dinner is Saturday, Feb. 4 in the Harrington School cafeteria at 5 p.m. The suggested donation is $5 per plate and all are welcome.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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