Episode #73: The Story of Mike Dill.

Some of the people who change our lives never know they did it. Capt. Barbara Folsom-McNeal was eleven years old when a police officer walked into the worst night of her childhood and carried her out. She'd been whipped with an extension cord, and to a terrified kid, he was a promise that someone would come through when it mattered most.  She didn't learn his name that night, but because of him, she grew up to wear the badge herself in order to continue to fulfill that promise to others.  A few months ago, Barbara sat down with us and told that story, and said that as she neared the end of her career, she'd made up her mind to find the officer who set her on this path. So we went looking. And we found his family. Tonight, Therese Apel and Amanda Johansson welcome Barbara back, and this time she isn't alone. Chris Dill joins us to talk about his father, Mike Dill, the officer who once lifted a little girl out of harm's way and, by every account, went to his grave with no idea he'd shaped the whole course of her life. This is the episode where the dots connect. It's about the long reach of a single heroic act, the echo it leaves behind, and how the memory of the same good man has shaped two entirely different lives.   Produced by Daniel Anderson at Audio Alchemy Productions.