Wife Pinned Under Dead Husband Is Saved

Newpaper Carrier Rescues 84-Year-Old Woman Trapped For Days Under Husband's Body

(AP)  Newspaper carrier Bruce Pitts knew the elderly couple only by the prayers the wife made for him while he was working at night and in bad weather, but he felt something was wrong when the papers piled up outside their home.

"It was never like them to leave a newspaper in their tube," Pitt said Tuesday. "That wonderful, small voice inside me said, 'This isn't right.'"

After his route early Sunday, Pitts went home, napped briefly and, with his wife, returned to Blanche and Fred Roberts' home, just outside Marion, Illinois.

They repeatedly rang the doorbells but got no answer. Pitts then eased open an unlocked side door and saw the couple about two feet inside, 84-year-old Blanche Roberts helpless looking right back at Pitts.

Her right leg was pinned beneath the body of her 77-year-old husband Fred, who apparently had died last Wednesday evening of a heart attack after mowing the lawn.

"The good Lord was with her. She was not scared, wasn't panicking," Pitts said during a telephone interview. "She was conscious, talking. Just peaceful. It was remarkable."

Her only request was for water. She knew her name and her relatives, but described her husband as "sleeping," said Pitts, who delivers the Southern Illinoisan, published in nearby Carbondale, Illinois.

Pitts described Blanche Roberts as frail and petite. Fred Roberts was a "good-sized man," according to Williamson County, Illinois, coroner Mike Burke, though he declined to be specific.

The coronoer said Fred Roberts likely died of a heart attack, based on accounts from the Roberts' visitors that day.

Blanche Roberts was taken to a hospital in nearby Herrin. The hospital on Tuesday wouldn't confirm whether she still was being treated there; Pitts said the couple's relatives told his wife Monday that she was doing fine.

Pitts has delivered on that route for three years but said he never met the Robertses before Sunday.

But he thinks fondly of Blanche Roberts, who often tipped him in letters and was known to Pitts and his wife as "The Prayer Lady."

In her missives, "Blanche would say, `I've been praying for you at night whenever the weather's bad, realizing you're out in it delivering our papers,"' Pitts said. "We'd always say a little prayer back."

[cyberus-2009]

This is how people should act towards each other.

Remember that when its storming or snowing and blowing and your paper/mail/pizza is a little late.

[fabrat1]

Aww what a feel good story that was. Yes sad but it feels good to know there are still good people in this crazy world of ours.

[georgew1956]

i want to move there

[walker1209]

While there is sadness in this story because someone died, there is also a lot to be thankful for. What wonderful people they must be.

I think if we all practiced a little more kindness, the world would be a much better place. May God bless everyone involved.

[sasi1-2009]

Thank God for people like both the Roberts & the Pitts! He was more concerned for this couple because of the wife''s prayers. God does work in mysterious ways, and Pitts was probably an answer to Mrs. Roberts'' prayers for aid.

[ago5675]

This shows that there is still kindness, caring and love in this harsh world. I wish I had acquaintances and neighbors like that.

[libh8er]

I agree with the first 3 posts!

[ranger1948]

This is how people should treat each other. A tragic but also wonderful story.

[lily1972]

i almost cried also

[pollroller1]

This is the kind of story that brings tears to this old man''s eyes.