This letter was sent to Gov. Mark Sanford in May from Robert T. Hill of Easton, MD.

Dear Gov. Sanford,

I sincerely hope this letter finds its way to your attention, but should it not, I hope those of your staff reading it will well grasp the sincerity and gratitude with which it is written.

I write for one purpose: simply to commend to you the people of your own state for their extraordinary kindness to “strangers in need,” meaning so much to my wife and me.

Late on April 11, near Dillon, my wife and I were rather severely injured in an automobile accident at the end of the first day of our trip from Maryland to Florida. Taken by ambulance to McLeod Medical Center Dillon, we learned that my wife, Jane, would need orthopedic surgery available at McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence, while I would continue a day or two there at McLeod Dillon.

When I was discharged from Dillon on the 13th (there being no further treatment for my five broken ribs and separated shoulder), I began my “vigil” at Florence, residing at the McLeod Guest House there. With Jane’s recovery from the excellent surgery to reconstruct her broken leg and totally replace her shattered elbow, our own family members were able to transport us home to Maryland, where we are now recovering and regaining strength daily, I am happy to say.

Furthermore, we remain very grateful indeed that the young man whose right-of-way we impeded was himself not badly injured, being treated and released that first night.

The remarkable kindness I speak of begins, in a way, with that young man. Unknown to us at the time, he had overheard our use of scripture in encouraging one another in the shared ambulance and the emergency room. When contacted that evening by his pastor, James Orr of the Pyerian Baptist Church near Latta, the young man insisted that Pastor Orr call on us, immediately.

Well, for the next week, Pastor Orr virtually adopted us, doing so much for us (retrieving our belongings from our totally wrecked car, arranging my stay at the McLeod Guest House, dealing with many tasks impossible for us to do ourselves) to the very minute of my wife’s discharge on April 19.

This same caring spirit was utterly consistent in all those with whom we dealt during those trying days, beginning with Cpl. J. W. Ellis II, the emergency medical technicians, the young man we collided with, and his mother.

Of course, the medical specialists, to a person, sustained this spirit, certainly so for Drs. Alexander and Hegarty and their splendid staffs at McLeod Dillon, and also for the very skilled surgeon, his assistant, and all the 11th floor nursing staff at McLeod Florence.

It was no less evident in contact with the McLeod security force shuttling me between the Guest House and the McLeod Pavilion, the very helpful Guest House staff, and even the young man trimming the grass at that residence. We must have come in contact with 40-50 South Carolinians in this episode, and every one of them exhibited this exceptional spirit of genuine concern for our comfort and well-being.

Perhaps all this friendly spirit of your fellow South Carolinians is no surprise to you at all, Governor, but to us it was a unique “life experience,” something truly exceptional. So with this explanation, we commend to you the very citizenry of your own state. We thank them all for how we were treated in South Carolina!

To learn more about McLeod Guest House click here.