Collin Smith, 22, and Ernest Greene, 72, may be an unlikely pair, but they are considered a “packaged deal” on the campus of North Carolina’s High Point University.
Smith and Greene’s bond was forged in tragedy when, just before Smith’s freshman year of high school, he was involved in a horrific car accident. Smith, a three-sport athlete, was paralyzed from the chest down.
Greene, who’d recently retired as an engineer, heard about the accident through his church and felt what he described as “a calling” to help the teenager, whom he’d never met, though they attended the same church.
He called Smith’s family and offered his services to the boy’s overwhelmed, working parents.
Through four years of high school, Greene acted as a nurse and driver for Smith. And when Smith entered college, Greene started putting in 12-hour days, leaving his home before dawn to get to Smith’s house by 6 a.m. He’d get Smith out of bed and ready for school and then make the 45-minute drive to campus. He attended every class with Smith and took notes for him while pushing him three miles a day or more.
Against staggering odds, Smith recently graduated from college and, of course, it was Greene who pushed him across the stage.
