‘Praying the whole time’

Dad braves Hurricane Helene, long hike to walk his daughter down the aisle at St. Mary

By Gabrielle Nolan

What do a wedding, a hurricane, and a father’s multi-state journey have to do with each other?

No, this is not the plot of a Hallmark movie (yet), but rather the real-life story of bride Elizabeth Marquez and her devoted father, David Jones.

Immediately following the remnants of Hurricane Helene, which brought devastation to Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee, Mr. Jones traveled from his home in Boiling Springs, S.C., to Johnson City, Tenn., to attend his daughter’s wedding on Sept. 28.

However, the journey did not go as planned. Because of closed roads and destroyed bridges, Mr. Jones’ car ride came to a sudden halt after crossing into Tennessee, and he decided to continue on foot for about 17 miles, hiking through the dark with many hazards along the way.

His story made national news, being featured on outlets such as Fox News, NBC News, People, Today, The Washington Post, Southern Living, and more.

“I was absolutely shocked and amazed to learn that that’s what had happened and that he had gone through all that,” said Mrs. Marquez, who is a parishioner at St. Mary Church in Johnson City and attended St. Mary School there. “It really was incomprehensible but such an act of love from my father.”

Over the hills and through the woods

Mr. Jones, 64, was to travel to his home in Johnson City the day before the wedding, a drive that normally takes 2.5 hours. Hurricane Helene had passed through South Carolina that day, wiping out power and Internet and leaving debris at Mr. Jones’ home.

But Mr. Jones was not deterred and began his drive to Johnson City. The weather cleared, but he only progressed 30 miles up the road before traffic came to a screeching halt.

“At one point I think it took me three hours to go 10 miles,” he said.

There were sections of the road where the highway patrol forced drivers off Interstate 26, which caused slowdowns as cars had to merge into one lane and go through towns that did not have functioning stoplights.

Mr. Jones was able to return to the interstate at a later ramp but had to get off again in Hendersonville, N.C. Although he could not send or receive calls or texts, his GPS was still working, often telling him to make a U-turn. Some roads were barricaded by police, while others were blocked by fallen trees and downed power lines.

Driving around Hendersonville on the west side of the highway, Mr. Jones could not find a way out. So, he crossed to the other side of the interstate, and it was open again.

“I made it a little farther and I sort of leap-frogged my way through,” he said. “Asheville was fine, there was nobody on the roads, and all the way from Asheville to the state line was clear. Then as I went down the hill… I saw some signs that said road closed ahead.”

“I never did let my guard down because every few miles there was another delay, another stop,” Mr. Jones continued. “So, I got to almost the bottom of the mountain there at exit 43, Temple Hill Road exit. I will always remember that now. The state troopers were gathered at the bottom of the ramp, there’s probably eight or nine patrol cars with their lights flashing, and a group of the patrolmen standing together. This was about 2 in the morning.”

The troopers informed Mr. Jones that he could not continue because the interstate was closed, and multiple bridges were completely washed away. When he inquired about the back roads, the troopers said some roads were washed out, but because they did not have full reports, no one was allowed to travel the back roads, either.

At this point, the drive had taken about seven hours.

“I was already a little tired and frustrated, it’s past midnight, my daughter’s getting married at 11 in the morning,” Mr. Jones shared. “These guys are just telling me to go back to my car and sit until the morning, and maybe they’ll be able to open a road then; they just didn’t know. And I couldn’t go on a maybe. My mindset was—and I told them—my daughter is getting married in Johnson City at 11, and I’m going to be there to walk her down the aisle.”

Mr. Jones drove off trying to find an alternate route but returned to the same spot only 15 minutes later. He had a thought: he could continue his journey on foot.

“I grabbed my backpack, and my shaving kit, and a couple of changes of underwear and socks, and I strapped on a belt and a windbreaker, and off I went with the backpack on my back and my cell phone light to guide me through the dark,” he shared.

He passed the state trooper who told him not to proceed, but Mr. Jones said that he would not hold anyone responsible except for himself.

At first, the road was clear as Mr. Jones began to walk. He was more concerned about what wild animals he might encounter, so he shined his cell phone flashlight to guide the way. Eventually, the farther he walked he encountered a section of road that was washed out with ankle-deep debris.

The trek became more dangerous and challenging when he happened on a bulldozer and backhoe clearing huge piles of debris from the road.

“They weren’t expecting a pedestrian at 3 in the morning, so they weren’t looking out for me,” Mr. Jones said. “And I can’t get past them because they’re going side to side on this road trying to clean it off. I’m trying to get their attention.”

Eventually, the bulldozer driver noticed Mr. Jones and ceased working. He told Mr. Jones that the road was blocked with no way through.

Mr. Jones began thinking of an alternative plan—perhaps he could get to a location that had Internet service so he could FaceTime his daughter during the wedding ceremony. Or he could hike back to his abandoned vehicle and give a firsthand report of the state of the roads to the state troopers.

Instead, he decided to persist: “My daughter is getting married at 11 o’clock, and I’m going to be there to walk her down the aisle.”

The bulldozer operator called the backhoe driver on their radios, and they stopped clearing for a moment in order to let Mr. Jones hike past. He was able to walk 30 to 40 feet beyond the backhoe when he encountered a huge debris pile consisting of mangled trees, old fences, and farm equipment that spanned the road.

Seeing no way over the pile, he attempted to go around it on the left side, but immediately stepped into mud.

“I was up to my knees in mud, it was like quicksand,” Mr. Jones remarked. “It just sucked me down, and I actually fell down in a seated position. And now this backhoe has started back up again, and he’s scooping up logs and swinging around and dumping them one place and swinging around again. Every time I heard him swing around, I’m kind of flinching thinking, oh, no, is he coming my way? Sooner or later, he’s going to finish with that pile; he’s going to come for this pile at some point.”

A lifelong Catholic, Mr. Jones said that he was “praying the whole time.”

“I was pretty forcefully screaming out to the Lord at that point, hoping He would hear something over the sound of that heavy equipment,” he said.

He was able to pull his right leg out of the mud, but his shoe remained trapped underneath. Knowing he could not continue on foot without his shoe, Mr. Jones dug down barehanded until he retrieved it. Eventually, he inched his left leg out of the mud pit, shoe intact.

He walked back to stable ground but was still on the wrong side of the debris pile. Searching, Mr. Jones found a gap in the pile that he could crawl into the middle of, climbing below and above the many mangled trees.

Making it to the other side, he had to maneuver through two or three more knee-high piles of rubble. He continued walking to the interstate, where there was only a small amount of standing water.

“I wanted to mention God’s providence and His timing,” Mr. Jones said. “If I didn’t have that delay—that one-and-a- half-hour drive that turned into seven hours—there would have still been water there, and I wouldn’t have been able to cross. It wouldn’t be wise to cross. … But the water had receded by then, so I think God had His hand of protection out for me there on the timing of all this.”

After walking down the interstate for half a mile, he approached a destroyed bridge and a road covered with hurricane litter.

“There was some debris that clearly came from a home, some looked like bathroom products; and so I could only imagine at that point somebody’s house had been destroyed if their stuff from their bathroom had washed up onto the interstate,” Mr. Jones stated. “The magnitude of this devastation was indescribable.”

“I don’t think Hollywood could have depicted it better. It’s one of those things where the pictures don’t do it justice,” he continued.

Mr. Jones recalled the state troopers telling him there was only one bridge in town that wasn’t knocked out, so with hope, he began walking in the direction of that bridge.

“There were a couple of patrol cars there but they were out on patrol. They weren’t in their cars, so I didn’t have to ask permission, I just went. And it was as stable as I could tell, it was just fine,” he said.

When he reached the other side of the bridge, a sign welcomed him to Erwin, Tenn.

Mr. Jones has devoted a career to management consulting, and one of his clients is Erwin Utilities, which is responsible for the area’s water, electricity, and cable.

“There were a lot of lights on, downtown Erwin was completely lit up; they had done a marvelous job,” he said. “I was familiar with the town; I was glad to get to that point. A state trooper pulled up alongside me, and he rolled his window down and he said, ‘Are you the one that’s trying to get to his daughter’s wedding?’ And I chuckled because now I’m sensing that the worst is behind me. I chuckled and I said, ‘Yes sir, I am. How did you know?’ And he said, ‘We’re all talking about you.’ And I said, ‘Oh my gosh; I hope it’s good.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, they all said you’re determined.’ And I said, ‘Yes sir; My daughter’s getting married at 11 o’clock in Johnson City and I’m going to walk her down the aisle.’”

The state trooper gave Mr. Jones a short ride into town to the town hall, which was the temporary headquarters where the officer was reporting in.

“We had a nice little chat, he was the nicest guy. I wish I could remember his name to give him full credit,” Mr. Jones shared. “He had been on duty for 23.5 hours, and he was just as nice and professional and pleasant and personable as if he had just woken up and had his first cup of coffee. It was amazing, and he didn’t have any idea when he would be off shift.”

Mr. Jones set off on foot again, walking to a Shell station to purchase a protein bar and energy drink to fuel the remainder of his journey.

He noted that whenever he sees coins on the ground, he picks them up and says, “In God We Trust,” the motto on the coins.

“It’s just a little reminder,” he said. “I pick up the coin and look heavenward and I just say, ‘In God we trust.’”

At the gas station, he found seven cents on the ground, his cell phone light shining brightly on them.

Mr. Jones cried as he said he appreciated “that message and encouragement” from God.

Next, he had to decide whether to take the interstate again or go on the old highway. He shared that something within him told him to take the old highway route, which is a bridge-like bypass in Erwin that goes over the train tracks.

After beginning his walk on the bypass, Mr. Jones discovered 42 more cents, bringing his total to 49 cents.

“It’s not seven times 70, but it’s seven times seven; that’s a biblical combination,” Mr. Jones observed. “So, I picked it all up, put it in my pocket, and I thought, OK, this is the path I’m supposed to go on. He is clearly telling me, go this way.”

He walked down the narrow, two-way country road with no shoulder, estimating he had another 12 to 15 miles until he would reach Johnson City.

“I can do this, I run marathons,” Mr. Jones told himself. “When I started this, I sort of mentally calculated this is about 20 or 30 miles from home, I can do this. I run marathons. That wasn’t the question of whether I could make it or not. If there was a path, I could make it. The question was would I make it to the church on time?”

As he continued walking, a fast car whizzed by him, and he stepped onto the grass for safety. Farther up the road, Mr. Jones found a reflector stake by a stop sign, so he grabbed it to wave as oncoming traffic approached him.

As other cars slowed down and passed, Mr. Jones wondered if anyone would stop to offer him a ride.

“I actually said a prayer and asked the Lord, help me decide if anybody does make that offer, make the decision easy for me so that I don’t get in the wrong car with the wrong person. … You don’t know who you’re getting in the car with, just like they don’t know who they’re picking up. So, I kind of asked Him to not have anybody stop that I wouldn’t want to ride with,” he shared.

Nobody stopped, so he continued his walk down the old highway. However, he realizes that he is slowing down by looking at his Garmin GPS device. Normally he could travel four miles in one hour, but he was walking slower than that.

At around 5 in the morning, Mr. Jones decided to call his brother, but it went to voicemail. He found out later that cell phone coverage was still down, so his brother did not receive the message until much later.

Not long after that, as Mr. Jones continued his hike, a white truck approached, and the man inside offered him a ride.

It was around 7 in the morning at this time, and, trusting God, Mr. Jones agreed to get in the truck.

“I’m starting to recognize his voice,” Mr. Jones said. “I didn’t recognize him, of course the light was dim. I recognized his voice. He and I were coworkers together at Texas Instruments in Johnson City 20 or 30 years ago. And so we got caught up and it was like, oh my goodness! What’s the latest? What’s going on?”

He said the white truck was “like an angel.”

When Mr. Jones was dropped off in the driveway of his Johnson City home at 7:30 a.m., there was no power at his home. He was able to get inside, clean up, and change clothes—he had an old suit and an old pair of shoes and some ties in his closet.

Because he also had a vehicle there at his house, he was able to drive himself to St. Mary Church in Johnson City at 10 a.m.—the exact time he was expected to arrive.

“It was truly the grace of God that got me there,” Mr. Jones said. “He was with me all the way. There was that point with the backhoe where I was afraid, really afraid of an accident, but not panicked, just seriously afraid. And there was another point back when I had the reflector… there was a pack of dogs up in the woods to the right on the other side of the road, that was barking furiously. It was a steep hill and I couldn’t see up in there. It’s all brush and trees. I didn’t know if there was a fence or if they were chained, but there had to be a half a dozen of them. … And so I was a little, shall we say, concerned at that point. I might be able to fend off one dog in my mind … but I don’t think I could fend off a pack. They must have been fenced or chained; they didn’t come down the hill; they didn’t come after me. Those were the only two times where I had some serious concern. The rest of the time I was just focused on my goal: my daughter’s getting married at 11, and I’m going to be there to walk her down the aisle.”

In God we trust

Mrs. Marquez noted that she and her husband, Daniel, had family traveling through the hurricane’s aftermath of storms, trying to arrive on time for her wedding. But on the day of the wedding, the weather was sunny, with the temperature comfortably in the low 70s.

However, when she arrived at St. Mary for her hairstyling and makeup, the church was without power. Contemplating what to do, the priests encouraged her to continue on with the wedding.

The hair and makeup artist still had power at her salon, so Mrs. Marquez traveled 10 minutes to complete her hair and makeup there instead of at the church.

“So, we decided to proceed with the wedding as scheduled and planned, just with no electricity,” she said. “There are several windows in the church, there’s a lot of natural light, and then my family came together and pulled all the candles they had and put mirrors and candles on little stands at the altar so that it gave some candlelight for the ceremony.”

Father Michael Cummins, pastor of St. Dominic Church in Kings-port, presided at the wedding.

“I came to know the Jones family when I was chaplain at the ETSU Catholic Center and would help out at St. Mary,” he said. “Elizabeth was active in the St. Mary youth group at that time.”

“I joked to those gathered that I was impressed by the groom, Daniel, going to such great lengths to ensure that his bride had a candlelit wedding,” Father Cummins shared.

Following the ceremony were photographs and a reception at a restaurant. It was during the reception that Mrs. Marquez first heard any news of her father’s remarkable journey.

“Part of the plan for the schedule of the day was to have a first look with my dad before the ceremony and give him a small gift, just sentimental, and I get to spend a little bit of time with him beforehand,” she said. “And we did that, and we were both emotional. I was very happy to share that moment with my dad, so glad that he was there for it, and it was very touching just as a father-daughter moment. But I had no idea about what he had gone through to get there until the reception.”

“So after the ceremony, part of the plan for the day was that my dad would give the blessing over the food for the reception, and so when he got up to do the blessing for the food, he gave some remarks and he told the group about what he had gone through and all that tied into some of his encouraging words for us and for our marriage,” she continued. “That is when we all learned about what he had been through, and that was an absolute emotional rollercoaster, and I cried all the tears I had during that.”

Mrs. Marquez shared that what was going through her mind, in addition to shock and amazement, was praising the Lord.

“Praising the Lord for delivering him safely through all those challenges and through the danger because it was so perilous what he was doing,” she said. “I can’t imagine what could have happened and how none of us would have known where to find him, where to even look for him, what had happened in any type of way. That would have been an absolute disaster. So, the Lord protected him, provided, so by the grace of God he was delivered safely and that was all I could really think about is how good our God is.”

For his speech to the bride and groom, Mr. Jones brought a gift with him: the reflector stake.

“I wanted to say a blessing over the two, and so I brought that reflector that I carried,” Mr. Jones said amid tears. “So, I presented it to them, and I said I want this to be a memory from this day. … I want you both, when you see this, to remember to always be a protector for the other person, especially in their darkest times. That’s when they need it most. Just like this reflector did for me. It protected me coming up. And I want you to continue to reflect God’s goodness because you’re both such good people. Keep this in a safe place in your house and let it be something you can remember this day by. And so that sort of brought it all full circle.”

Father Cummins commented that he was truly impressed by Mr. Jones’ love for his daughter and his “determination to walk her down the aisle.”

“The perseverance David demonstrated in making it to his daughter’s wedding despite the many obstacles he faced reveals a strength grounded in love, I believe,” Father Cummins shared. “The story speaks well both to the vocation of fatherhood and the importance of the sacrament of marriage. It’s a story to allow ourselves to be both uplifted and challenged by in a good way. For whom and for what would I endure such challenges and where would I find my resolve?”

Since the wedding weekend, Mr. Jones said life has been “a whirlwind.”

“There’s been a lot of interest around the globe, literally,” he shared. “A lot of people have said we need some good news amongst all this darkness and all the bad news, and for that I’m grateful to be able to be the vehicle for that. But I don’t think I did anything that any other dad wouldn’t do for their daughter. I don’t feel like I’m a hero. I just did what dads do for their kids.”

For Mrs. Marquez, her father’s gesture opened her eyes and heart to the love of God.

“It was such a powerful and moving experience to know that my dad made that choice and took that journey out of love for us, and it really brought my faith into the forefront after that,” she shared.

“It just was an eye-opening experience for me in that to see someone physically on this earth that I know and to experience this of someone putting themselves through that type of hardship and difficulty, pain and suffering, out of love for another; it was like a firsthand reflection of what Christ did on the cross,” she continued. “And so I think that’s what was the big connection faith-wise for me was to see this can happen, this does happen, and this is what Christ did. Christ went through the pain and suffering out of love for us. So that was such a wild connection to see it put into practice and to have it right here in front of my eyes, an example of what Christ did for us on the cross out of love.”

Mr. and Mrs. Marquez enjoyed a honeymoon in Hawaii, while Mr. Jones returned to his home in South Carolina—this time by rental car.

“[My car is] still right now at the bottom of the ramp of exit 43, the Temple Hill Road exit. I will always remember that. It’s on the Tennessee side. But after all this happened, North Carolina closed the interstate at the state line,” he said. “So, I’m trapped between the closed interstate at the state line and the bridges that are out. I can’t go anywhere; my car is still there. I had to rent a car to get back here to South Carolina, and I had to drive all the way up to Wytheville (Va.) and down to Charlotte and then over to Boiling Springs (S.C.) to get here. Way, way, way farther than normal to get back. My Ford Explorer is sitting at the bottom of that ramp, and I’m asking God’s protection on that as well, since it’s there abandoned until they open the roads again.”

Mr. Jones said that he and his family are “grateful to God that everything worked out.”

“God really was in it the whole way,” he concluded.