The word community doesn´t always refer to an area fit within specific geographic boundaries.

Many times, it refers to people who are drawn together by emotional and spiritual bonds that cannot be contained within physical boundaries.

Take the story of Shawnda Phipps, her husband, Monty, and their two children, Terrah Wise of Muleshoe and Scott.

In the face of life-and-death adversity, the Phipps learned they were part of a community that reached from Plainview to Pennsylvania.

On Sept. 10, Monty was driving a truck for Werner Trucking and had delivered a load to Brooklyn.

He was supposed to deliver another load the next day to the Bronx, but was not feeling well and had a sense of foreboding.

Because he thought he had the flu, he refused the load and took his truck into New Jersey.

As it turned out, if Monty had taken the load on Sept. 11, he would have been right in the middle of the chaos surrounding the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers.

However, that is only the beginning of the story.

As it turned out, the “flu” he thought he had was the beginnings of double pneumonia.

After talking to Shawnda on Sept. 10 and getting his truck into New Jersey, Monty went to sleep, concerned about the ramifications of refusing the load and unaware of the drama unfolding around him.

Because she was concerned about his health, Shawnda called the health department with Werner and asked them to check up on him.

At that point, he was told not to worry about the load, but to bring the truck to the company´s terminal in Allentown, Penn.

However, by that time his illness had gotten worse and when that was combined with the lack of familiarity of the area, he ended up missing his exit and wound up at a truck stop near Harrisburg, Penn.

To make matters worse, the communication system in his truck, designed to allow him to communicate directly with the company, was not working. Although he could receive messages, he could not send any.

Also, the terrorist attacks had disrupted cell phone use so normal communications were in turmoil as well.

When he didn´t show up at the terminal, the company accused him of stealing the truck.

According to Shawnda, as things progressed, Werner became less willing to work with her as she tried to get help for her husband.

Because he was getting increasingly weaker, Monty had stopped at a truck stop when finally Shawnda was able to get back through to the company.

“I talked to safety and they refused to help. They said the people at the truck stop should help him,” she said.

In fact, when Monty finally got through to the company dispatcher, he was told to get the truck back to the terminal and get his stuff out.

He started trying to drive again, but realized he was a danger to himself and others on the road so he stopped at an All-American Truck stop near Lebanon, Penn., and tried to get into the building.

He couldn´t because he was so weak so he stayed in the truck and, at Shawnda´s suggestion, called 911.

She had spoken to him on the phone and he could barely talk.

“I told him, `Don´t you bother to call the company. You call 911. Don´t you lay there and die,´” she said.

In the meantime, she called Monty´s best friend, Michael Lee, who lives in Petersburg.

Michael immediately volunteered to start driving to Pennsylvania to help Monty.

Knowing that someone was on the road to her husband, Shawnda began to try and find a way to get to Pennsylvania.

Once emergency vehicles got to the truck stop, the “community” began to step in and help.

Fellow drivers who had seen Monty trying to get into the building continued to keep an eye on him, and helped him get out of the truck. The employees of the truck stop said they would secure his truck and belongings.

He was taken to the hospital in Lebanon, which is about 35 miles from the terrorist crash site in Pennsylvania and 85 miles north of Washington, D.C.

When his wife got in touch with the doctor at the hospital she was told Monty was “stable but was as critical as critical could be.” In fact, he was ultimately placed on a ventilator because his lungs were flooding and he had only five percent of his breathing capacity.

Shawnda is an art teacher at Estacado Junior High in Plainview and her friends and family began to work with her to help her get to Lebanon.

Getting a commercial flight less than a week after the attacks was going to be difficult, at best.

However, one of her friends found a single commercial seat available on a flight out of Lubbock.

Although that would allow Shawnda to get to Pennsylvania, she would have to go alone.

Her friends kept looking as she made plans to drive the almost 2,000 miles to Lebanon.

As things began to reach their most chaotic, and desperate, a friend, Kristy Goines, called and suggested she charter a flight locally.

In fact, she went the extra mile and booked a charter for the Phipps with Mike Hutcherson of Hutcherson Flying Service at the Plainview-Hale County Airport.

They were supposed to leave at 7 p.m. on Sept. 15.

However, Hutcherson had been on another flight and had gotten in late and needed to rest.

They wound up leaving at 6 a.m. the next day and Hutcherson and Scott Smith flew Shawnda and her son, Scott, to Harrisburg.

Hutcherson explained that he was able to fly because he is instrument rated and that allows air control personnel to keep track of the flight.

When they landed, the Phipps began to understand just how far their “community” extended.

Monty´s friend Michael had already gotten to Pennsylvania and made motel arrangements for the family.

The hospital chaplain as well as some local pastors had begun to come and visit.

That was important to the Phipps because they are Christians and members of Colonial Baptist Church in Plainview.

As they began to meet the nurses at the hospital, they were told if they needed anything, including money, to say the word and those needs would be met.

Several fellow Christians in the community also took an interest in the family and their plight.

To Shawnda, who was 1,800 miles from home, that compassion was overwhelming.

“When you get to a point where things are totally out of your control, you have to put it in the Lord´s hands. Everybody and everything was put right in place. The nurses there were like angels,” she said.

Monty was on the ventilator for eight days.

The couple, who married when she was 14 and he was 17, celebrated their 28th anniversary in the hospital at Lebanon.

When it came time for them to come back home, a local person offered to drive them to Harrisburg to the airport during her off time and would not accept any money to cover gas.

“Everywhere we went, the people in our paths were good Christian people,” she said, adding that many of those people continue to keep in touch with the family and ask about Monty´s progress.

That progress has come, a little at a time.

He recently has been released to begin working some, although his left lung still is giving him problems.

The family is involved in legal action against Werner over the situation, but things are looking good for them, and much of that is due to the 1,800-mile community the family has found itself a part of.

“I know without the love of friends and prayers . . . we watched a miracle unfold before our eyes. I know it is purely a miracle my husband is alive with me today.”

From The Plainview Daily Herald