If you were around in 1987, you may remember the story of Jessica McClure, an 18 month old girl who fell in a well in Texas and became what very well have been the first story of the era of media obsession. For three days, the news media, including then-young CNN, crowded around the well for no better reason than the fact that there was nothing else going on in the world at the time.
Well, Baby Jessica is twenty-one now and a few years away from coming into some big bucks:
MIDLAND, Texas — The 18-month old girl pulled from a backyard well two decades ago is now a young wife and mother _ one waiting to collect donations given to her during her ordeal that are expected to total $1 million or more.
The anniversary of Jessica McClure’s rescue passed Tuesday like almost every other day in the 21-year-old’s life, with no public comment from her about the event that once captivated viewers around the world.
The young wife and mother is living quietly in this West Texas oil patch city, the same one where she fell into the backyard well.
“Jessica’s just been a wonderful, wonderful mother,” said her father, Chip McClure. “That’s always been Jessica’s dream, to be a stay-at-home mom.”
In 3 1/2 years, however, her quiet existence might change when all the donations sent to her when she was a baby mature into a payment of $1 million or more.
Many of the sympathetic strangers who remained glued to television coverage until Jessica was freed from 22 feet below the ground showered her family with teddy bears, homemade gifts, cards and cash. It will remain in a trust fund until she turns 25.
Because you know, nobody deserves $ 1 million more than someone who fell down a well twenty years ago.
