On May 10, 1950, 14-year-old Imogene Wittsche and her Roseville family settled their lawsuit against Phil Davis, a wealthy auto dealer from Oakland, in the amount of $160,000. Davis was convicted the preceding October of negligence and was found responsible for the boating accident that resulted in the loss of both of Imogene’s legs below the knee. He was ordered to pay a $1,500 fine and serve six months in jail.
Imogene was swimming in Lake Tahoe with a friend when the speedboat piloted by Davis drove over her, the propellers mangling her legs. The tragedy was reported in newspapers across the country. Imogene, fitted with prosthetic legs, led an active life at Roseville High School and graduated in 1953. But what made Imogene special was the gift she continued to pay forward.
When Imogene learned she lost her legs, she fell into a deep depression, but her spirits lifted when 14-year-old Norma Carothers from Kansas walked into Imogene’s hospital room on two prosthetic legs. Norma had also lost her legs in an accident. “It makes a lot of difference when someone tells you the things you can do and can prove it,” she told the Roseville Press Tribune (June 5, 1953).
For many years afterward, Imogene traveled to hospitals throughout the region to visit young amputees, show them they were not alone and demonstrate they could do things that seemed impossible. Imogene married a Korean War veteran, William Haynes, in 1954 and they had two children. William died in 2010, Imogene followed in 2018 and both are buried in the Roseville Cemetery.
Photo: The Sacramento Bee clipping, May 11, 1950.
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