'Like It Dropped Out Of Heaven': Woman Reunited With Late Father's Truck
RAYMOND, NH (CBS) - Kaleigh Seckendorf pulled up in her new, old pickup truck Wednesday night with a temporary tag and a lasting smile.
"I never thought in a million years I would ever see this truck again," Kaleigh said.
It's fire engine red because it belonged to her Salem firefighter dad, who taught her to drive in it.
"This truck is very special to him, and it's something that bonded the two of us together," Kaleigh said.
When her dad committed suicide in 2016, the despair was overwhelming. But, the aging truck needed repairs she couldn't afford, she had no place to store it, and her family was scattering. So Kaleigh reluctantly gave it to a family friend, believing it was destined for the junkyard.
She kept only a key and some angel wings. "Having to give it up kind of felt like I was losing the last piece of him," Kaleigh said.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when a firefighter she knows swore he'd spotted the truck at a used car place in little Raymond, New Hampshire and she went looking.
"It was surreal, I instantly got chills, started crying, ran up to the truck, hugged it," Kaleigh said.
Duke Drownes had rescued it from the scrap pile a few months ago and poured some money into it, but when he saw Kaleigh trembling, losing a couple grand didn't seem that important.
"I pretty much gave it to her," Drownes said. "It just felt good to do that, so I don't know, it's not all about profits."
The old Ford still needs some more work, but Kaleigh already feels her dad's presence in the way it came back.
"Good deeds that he's done are being returned to his children, through other people's acts of kindness," Kaleigh said.
"She needed that truck because of her father," Drownes said.
Now, she feels like he's always along for the ride.
"It's like it dropped out of heaven," Kaleigh said laughing.
