Jessica's Well, or, Where It All Went Down

The well is located in the backyard of a house where Jessica's aunt lived. It was a sort-of-daycare situation. Several people have lived there since. When we pulled up to the house, the owners' cars were in the driveway. We drove around the block, and discovered the back alley. This is the back fence.


Who knew Baby Jessica's Well had a guard dog? I didn't. He was pretty ferocious for St. Bernard. Adrienne and I pretended to read road maps until he lost interest in us.
This is a video I made while trying to look through the fence without alerting St. Vicious.

Finally, I got a glimpse of the well through a crack in the fence.

Here is a closer look.

After the rescue, the rescuers put a cap on the well that says:

For Jessica 10-16-87 with love from all of us

And here is the well with the swingset in the background. I wonder if this was Jessica's swingset.

Just after this photo, St. Vicious caught on to me, so Adrienne and I hightailed it out of there. We're going to go back tomorrow to see if we can get better documentation.

TRIUMPH OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT

Inside the Midland Center is A Triumph of the Human Spirit, the painting of the Jessica McClure Rescue by Jan Johnson Sheets. The plaque next to it reads:

A Triumph of the Human Spirit This painting is a tribute to an event that lifted
the entire world to a higher plane of human consciousness
and helped us to better understand the human spirit with its
boundless capacity for compassion and love.

Thanks to the men and women who came together in
Midland, Texas, the world shared in a God-graced victory that came from faith and self-sacrifice.

-Jan Johnson Sheets, Artist

Underneath that it says:
A special thanks to Jim & Landa Williamson and Doyle Ballenger

And underneath that is one of my favorite parts about the painting:

Framing courtesy of
BILL LOVE FRAME A RAMA
Odessa, Texas

Here is the artist's interpretation of Jessica being rescued.

And here is the well into which she fell. It's small, just like she was.

Here is how I found the painting. I don't think Baby Jessica would be very happy to know that a ficus is blocking her painting. I thought the vending machine was a nice patriotic touch.

Jessica McClure Memorial - Live!

Back in New York, I was researching the locations of the Jessica McClure memorials, and I thought, How am I going to find these when I get there? So imagine how excited I was when we pulled into the Hilton in Midland, and the memorial and Midland Center were directly across the street.

Now I have my very own picture of it!
See the man giving the thumbs up in the left corner? I'm not sure which rescuer he's supposed to be, but that's the sign they gave as they were pulling Baby Jessica to the top so all the other rescuers, reporters and bystanders knew they had her.

Jessica McClure memorial

Photo by dustdevildiver.

The inscription reads:
Nothing the heart gives away is gone
It is kept in the hearts of others

I'm going to Midland from February 25-26. This is the kind of stuff I want to see.