'That's something that he would do': A stranger's generosity reminded her of her dad

This story is part of the My Unsung Hero series, from the Hidden Brain team. It features stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else.

In the summer of 2024, Caroline Davis and her partner were doing a DIY home project that required 1,500 pounds of gravel. So Davis headed to a home improvement store, and started filling up her Toyota Corolla with 50-pound bags.

"I'm loading, loading. And this older man comes over," she recalled. "And he says, 'Do you know that your car has a weight limit?'"

Davis did not know that. It had never even occurred to her that she could damage her car with a heavy load.

"That feels to me like something your dad would tell you," Davis said. Her dad had died of a heart attack in 2017, at the age of 57.

"So I'm doing DIY later in life," she said. "I didn't [learn] that from him."

Davis started to feel overwhelmed; how was she going to unload the gravel from her car and bring it back to the store? And then how would she transport all the gravel she needed back home for her project? That's when the man made an offer of unusual generosity.

"He says, 'I can load you up in my truck. Do you live nearby?' And I say, 'Yes,'" Davis said.

The man helped her unload all the gravel from her car, and then loaded it into his truck. They exchanged numbers, and she shared her address. When she pulled onto the highway, the kindness of what he had done began to hit her.

"I just start to cry in my car because I was so grateful for the goodness of strangers, of this person helping me," Davis said.

"The whole interaction just reminded me of my dad, of knowing that that's something that he would do."

When they arrived at her house, the man helped her unload all 1,500 pounds of gravel onto her driveway. She thanked him, again and again, and he insisted that she not worry about it.

Davis didn't want him to leave empty-handed. She tried to offer him money, then wine, but he wouldn't accept them. Then she thought of something he might like.

"I have a garden. And it's the end of the season. And I just say, 'Do you like cucumbers?'" Davis recalled.

"He's been pretty serious up until now," she said. "And his face just lights up and he says, 'I love cucumbers.'"

She offered him a tour of the garden; it turned out he, too, had been a gardener, before his work got in the way. Davis twisted a handful of big, prickly cucumbers off the vine, and gave them to the man. He seemed thrilled.

"He tucks them under his arm, and he just marches off back to his truck," she said. "And I watched him drive off, leaving behind my 1,500 pounds of gravel."

Today, inspired by her unsung hero, Davis tries to be on the lookout for others who might need a hand.

"I just am so grateful for people like that, who teach me the things I don't know I don't know."

My Unsung Hero is also a podcast — new episodes are released every Tuesday. To share the story of your unsung hero with the Hidden Brain team, record a voice memo on your phone and send it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.