October 12, 2006 1:56 pm
From Tragedy Comes Triumph
Posted by Will under writing
Today marks the 13th anniversary of a suicide in the valley that led me to begin this column for the Pierce College Roundup like this:
Evelyn Ruth Billings made a lot of people late to work October 12.
Because of her, the two right lanes of the southbound San Diego Freeway were closed for nearly three hours. Rush-hour traffic was backed up to Nordhoff Street, to Winnetka on the southbound Ventura Freeway and to Coldwater Canyon on the northbound. The resultant traffic clog led harried commuters to inundate the surrounding canyon roads and Sepulveda Boulevard, jamming those streets for several hours.
All because she died that morning.
The column, published in the October 20 issue of the campus paper, went on to take first place Column Writing category of the 1994 Journalism Association of Community College’s statewide competition. Only after receiving the award did I learn legendary L.A. Times columnist Jack Smith was the judge and I immediately wrote him a letter telling him I’d been reading him since I could remember and I wasn’t sure which I was more honored by, winning or being judged worthy by him. A shortwhile later I received a handwritten note back thanking me for my kind words and for making the selection process easy for him by writing an exceptional column that readily stood far above the other entries.
It is my proudest moment as a journalism student and a journalist, but I keep my pride tempered never forgetting that my personal success resulted from another person’s failure. And every October 12th since, I’ve always made sure to say a little prayer for Evelyn and hope she rests in peace.
October 13th, 2006 at 9:55 am
That’s heavy Will. I think your initial reaction was a common one, but your reaction after finding out more of the story was a rare one. When I was 16 I saw a woman commit suicide off of the front of a bus I was riding in. The shock of this is still fresh in my mind even though it happened 22 years ago.
You put your honest feelings down and that is a good thing.
October 13th, 2006 at 11:48 am
Thanks Paul. Yeah, and I remember taking some heat from kneejerk readers the following week who wrote in after only reading half of the column calling me a cold heartless monster.
July 11th, 2007 at 8:47 am
I also remember that day, but as a family member who lives a continent away at the time, but who was affected far more than any morning commuter. For most of them, it was a morning’s inconvenience. For us, it is a lifetime’s sorrow. I live in San Diego these days, but say my own silent prayer (to whom I don’t even know) on the now-rare occasions that I pass under that damn bridge.
Thank you for having written so sensitively about someone who was kind and gentle and might, just might have made it through a dark period. We knew her as Ruth.