February 1, 2005
Lanier County - It's been just over two weeks since Lottie Null lost her oldest child and only son, but time isn't making the loss any easier. "I'll never get over it, you don't ever get over those things," said Null.
Fifty-seven year old Robert Allen, or Bobby as his family calls him, loved the life of a truck driver, and was carrying a load through Pennsylvania when he noticed a wrecked car on the side of the road. "A young girl, 22, her car had overturned on the icy roads of the Pennsylvania turnpike," said Rebecca Ulrich, Sister.
Allen stopped to help, but as he was approaching the woman's car, he was struck by another tractor trailer. "Both trucks rolled off the 25 foot embankment and Bob was pinned between them, he died instantly," said Ulrich.
The news of his death shocked Allen's family, but they weren't surprised to find out what he died doing. "If he'd kept going, he'd be alive today, but Bobby couldn't have kept going, he did exactly what we thought, he stopped to help somebody," said Ulrich.
They describe him as the backbone of the family, the one everyone counted on when they needed help. "He didn't have a dimes worth of insurance on him, but he saw that I was taken care of," said Null.
"Whenever I needed him, even just to talk, he was always there," said Glenna French, Niece.
The woman Allen was trying to help left the accident with only minor injuries. Now his family wants to contact her, and tell her about the stranger who stopped to help. "I'm glad my brother was there for her, she had a good guardian angel," said Ulrich.
And now, they do too.
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