Health scare ends, officer finds Bible
A Knox County Sherriff’s Office sergeant is being commended for recently locating a Farragut woman’s prized Bible, lost along Kingston Pike.
Sgt. Joshua Pless was policing church dismissal traffic from First Baptist Concoard Sunday, June 30 — just as he has done for the last dozen years or so — when he encountered Frances Poore and Mille Davis, who were driving eastbound on Kingston Pike.
The women, both Farragut residents, had attended church services at Faith Fellowship Cumberland Presbyterian Church earlier that morning, with Poore driving as she does most Sundays — when an emergency struck.
“I had taken her home, and we suspected she was having a TIA (transient ischemic attack), which she had had before,” Poore explained. “I offered to take her to the hospital, but panicked and was in a hurry and accidentally left her Bible on top of my car.”
Millie, who will be 91 in August, was only briefly hospitalized following the health scare, and said she received a good health report the following week.
But by the time the women encountered Pless, they realized the Bible had fallen off the car about a mile behind them.
Poore, of course, could not go back for it under the circumstances.
“I explained to him what had happened, and at first he offered to call an ambulance, but Millie just wanted me to take her on to the hospital,” Poore said. “Then he gave me his card, and told me to call him later, to see if he was able to find it.
“It just killed me, what happened, because I lost her Bible, “ she added.
Pless said he retraced the women’s steps, and indeed found Davis’ Bible, right where they thought they had lost it.
“It looked like it had been run over a little bit and some of the pages had been folded, but I got it and smoothed the pages out flat,” Pless said.
“I was just doing my job.”
Poore said when she called Pless later that afternoon, and he said he had found Davis’ precious book, “I just sank. I just couldn’t believe it. Bless his heart, he brought it to me, and came right to my door.
“He was very sweet, and just so nice. I just wanted people to know this young man really went above and beyond for us that day.”
Davis said the Bible was inherited from a brother-in-law, and added, “ I am just real happy and can hardly believe I got my Bible back. I appreciate so much what the policeman did for me.”
When asked if the Bible was of sentimental value, Davis said, “All Bibles are sentimental to me.”
Davis, who will be 91 years old in August, not only got her Bible back, but she was only briefly hospitalized following the health scare, and said she received a good health report the following week.
“I got into this line of work to help people, and if you aren’t in it to help people, you are in it for the wrong reasons,” Pless added. “I was just doing what was right — it was just what we do.”
