MANCHESTER – The truck stopped outside around 11:30 a.m. Friday and Cathy Shepherd sprang from the door of her condominium, her hands cupped in front of her face.
Father and son got out of the truck. Shepherd cried as she rushed across the lawn toward them.
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She reached the father first, embracing him and repeating, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Then the father stepped aside and extended an arm toward his teenage son. Shepherd wrapped her arms around the son’s neck. “You’re an angel,” she said, stepping back with her hands resting on the son’s cheeks, then his shoulders.
“That’s what everybody’s supposed to do for each other,” the father said. “You’re supposed to stop and help your fellow human being.”
The emotional reunion came five days after the three people met for the first time, on a foggy, terrifying night on Interstate 95 in Waterville.
Shepherd, 32, was driving south about 9:30 p.m. Sunday, her cruise control set to the speed limit, when a moose walked into the highway and her 2004 Hyundai XG350 slammed into it, killing it.
Soon after the crash, about two miles south of Exit 127, Randy and Kendall Curit of Windham stopped their Chevy truck to help the bloodied and disoriented woman.
As other cars hit the moose, and one swerved out of control toward them, Kendall Curit quickly tossed Shepherd over the guardrail and out of harm’s way, while his father called 911. She was taken to the hospital and the father and son went on their way.
After the accident, Shepherd wanted to thank the two but didn’t know who they were.
At her home Friday, Shepherd showered her “heroes” with hugs and praise, while learning more about them and the events Sunday night.
Randy Curit, 44, a former Marine, owns Barney’s Seafood Market on Route 302 in Raymond, near Sebago Lake. Kendall Curit, 17, will be a senior at Windham High School. He hopes to become a police officer, and he plays hockey and hunts — he has shot a moose, in fact.
Kendall also is a race-car driver, which is why they found Shepherd that night. He had raced in the Legends Series at Unity Raceway, with his father there as his No. 1 fan and mechanic.
They were driving home when they saw the collision ahead. Shepherd, who had been kicked in the head by the moose when it crashed through the windshield, was frantically pumping her brakes so the lights would alert other motorists.
The Curits said they realized what had happened as their truck passed the wreck. Randy Curit braked and backed up on the passing-lane side of the road. Kendall Curit jumped out as Shepherd stumbled out of her crushed car.
Randy Curit said he had to wait to cross the highway — at least 20 cars passed the wreck at normal speeds. “I was just amazed people were continuing on with their lives,” he said.
One vehicle clipped the moose and went off the road. The driver of a sport utility vehicle braked and started spinning toward Shepherd and Kendall. An 18-wheel tractor-trailer began jackknifing behind the SUV.
That’s when the teenager threw Shepherd over the guardrail and down toward a gully, leaping after her as the spinning car passed where they had been. Kendall Curit held her hand, kept telling her to breathe and said she was beautiful as they made their way back up to the road.
“I was amazed that, at 17 years old, he reacted the way he did,” Randy Curit said of his son. “He threw her out of the way with no concern for himself. He’s the hero here.”
After the incident, all Shepherd knew about her rescuers was that the son’s name was Kendall and that they had been “on their way back from the races.”
After the Morning Sentinel published a story about Shepherd’s experience Thursday, the Curits were publicly identified by an online commenter. A reporter at the New England Cable News bureau in Portland recognized the Curits and contacted Randy. NECN coordinated with Shepherd and the Curits to arrange the reunion Friday.
Friday morning, Shepherd wore the necklace cross she wore the night of the crash; it was the only thing that hadn’t been ruined, she said.
“You really are my angel,” Shepherd said, smiling at Kendall Curit. “I know that may make you feel awkward or whatever, but I love you, even though I don’t know you. I’ll never forget you guys. You’ll always have a special place in my heart.”
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