Susan Cornelison, left, and Kara Hawkins pose where they work in Hobbs Jewelers. They stand together 26 years to the day Cornelison saved Hawkins’ life after a motorcycle wreck on Interstate 65.

On July 11, 2011, Susan Cornelison and Kara Hawkins stand together laughing and smiling with coworkers at Hobbs Jewelers in Athens. It has been a long journey for the both of them to be here, especially since Kara was not expected to live.

Twenty-six years earlier, on July 11, 1981, Susan Cornelison was in the family car on her way home from a trip to Nashville. Her husband had been playing in a softball tournament, and the couple and their young son were traveling back to Athens on a southbound lane of Interstate 65. The trip had been a nice break from her hectic nursing job.

Along the way they came upon an accident in the northbound lane that happened only moments before. A motorcycle trying to merge onto the interstate struck a car, knocking the riders to the pavement.

Susan and her husband pulled over immediately. Without hesitation she crossed the median and ran to the motorcycle driver. He was scraped up, but awake, asking someone to help his little girl. Susan looked and saw a teenager lying face down, motionless, and whimpering though she was unconscious.

As Susan examined the teen she made a serious discovery: her airway was blocked, and she was bleeding profusely from cuts on her face. The situation was grim.

“She was really critical,” Cornelison said. “I honestly did not think that she would make it.” Susan manually opened the girl’s airway and waited for help.

Cars in the southbound lane had stopped to help the other victims. In addition to the motorcyclists, passengers from at least four other vehicles, including a National Guard Humvee, had piled up or flipped trying to avoid the initial accident. However Susan’s focus remained on one thing: Keep this girl breathing.

“That was the most important thing right then,” Susan said.

Susan’s husband flagged down another driver and got them to go to the nearest exit and call for help.

“It seemed like forever,” she said. As first responders began to arrive from Pulaski, the man on the motorcycle was asking around for someone to call his family. His name was Broadway. When the ambulances arrived and took the girl away, Susan and her husband got back in the van and went home.

Years went by. Cornelison assumed the worst for the teen she helped that day, but came to peace knowing she would probably never find out. She couldn’t remember the man’s name or the girl’s. If she had been given a piece of paper with his name on it, she knew she had lost it.

Susan Cornelison fell out of the nursing profession, became a stay-at-home-mom, did odd jobs in retail, and eventually wound up in a part-time position at Hobbs Jewelers.

Almost a year ago, a young woman named Kara Hawkins came to work during the busy holiday season. Susan didn’t know her, she had been an occasional customer before being hired, but over time they became well acquainted on the few days they worked together.

On a day when Kara was not at the store, a man named Broadway walked in. Susan knew she had heard the name before, but couldn’t ask the man outright. If he was the motorcyclist, she didn’t want to bring up painful memories of the accident. She was sure the girl had died. But after Broadway left, Susan began to ask the other ladies at work.

A coworker named Teresa Russell came to her aid. Russell explained the man was not the cyclist himself, but the man’s brother.

He was also Kara’s uncle.

Russell had put the pieces together. Every now and then Susan would mention she had tried to help a girl involved in a terrible motorcycle wreck, and occasionally Kara would say she was in a motorcycle wreck as a teen. Up until then, no one had fully realized what had happened.

Elated, they called Kara at her home. She couldn’t believe it. When the two women met again at the jewelry store, everyone knew the whole story and was overjoyed when they embraced. The two have bonded ever since.

The time after the accident had not been easy for Kara. When she awoke her parents could not help but sing the praises of the nurse who stopped to save her life. The mystery remained with them. They had no clues to go on, only speculative guesses gathered at the scene of the accident.

Coincidence brought Kara to work at the store and coincidence brought her uncle with the name Broadway into Susan’s showroom that day.

Things couldn’t be better for Susan and Kara. They are good friends and Kara always has Susan in a special place in her heart.

“I think she was my guardian angel.”