On Thanksgiving Eve 1980, 18-year-old John Morris drove alone from his job in Olathe, Kansas, to St.James, Missouri, to spend the holiday weekend with his grandparents. The trip was expected to take four hours. As the snow fell heavier and faster, making the roads slick, John's car slid off the icy highway and into a ditch.

Sitting behind the wheel of his 1969 Chevrolet Nova, he took deep breaths to stay calm. John was uninjured, but the car would not restart. He was stranded on the highway, unable to call for help or contact his grandparents, as communication methods were not widespread then.

The highway was surrounded by fields with few houses. Just before his car slid into the ditch, John noticed a house set back from the road. He believed it was the closest place to find help.

"I waded through the wet, sticky snow and knocked on the door", John recalled.

The house on the hill where John spent the night in 1980. He took this photo the next day. Photo: CNN

A man answered the door. John explained the situation and asked to use the phone to call for a tow truck. The stranger agreed but told John he could not wait inside as he was about to leave.

John dialed the tow truck company on the landline. The company said they would send someone, but could not guarantee a time due to the unexpected snowstorm causing chaos across the area. He returned to his car to wait. It grew darker, the snow fell heavier, and no tow truck appeared. John, without a heavy coat, was freezing. He decided to find shelter and saw a light on a distant hill.

As he got closer, he realized the light was a porch light; the house itself was dark. He knocked, but no one answered, yet the door was unlocked. Thinking the owners might be upstairs and had not heard him, John stepped inside. He called out "hello" again but was met only with silence.

He entered the kitchen, which was dark until he found the light switch and turned on the overhead light.

Clearly, no one was home. John saw a phone on the kitchen counter next to a phone book. He decided to call the tow service again for an update, then planned to leave the house and return down the hill. The phone rang, but no one answered.

Upon reaching the bottom of the hill, John was relieved to see his car had been pulled up and parked across the road. He breathed a sigh of relief and quickly got into the driver's seat.

"But when I tried to drive away, it started normally, but as soon as the wheels turned, the car slid back into the ditch", he remembered. John later learned the battery had been damaged when the car slid off the road.

So, John returned to the house. He picked up the phone and called his grandparents to tell them what happened and where he was. His grandmother informed him that his parents and sister were also stranded in the snowstorm while driving. They found the roads too dangerous and had stopped at a roadside inn for the night. She told him to stay put.

After hanging up, John looked around the house. By this point, he had decided to sleep there, despite feeling uneasy about staying in a stranger's home without permission. He noticed a stack of dishes by the sink that needed washing. Thinking he could at least help, John rolled up his sleeves and washed and dried the dishes. Afterward, he found paper and a pen, writing a note explaining who he was and why he was there, in case he fell asleep on the sofa before the owners returned. He took some cash from his wallet and placed it next to the note as a thank you.

"Then I made myself at home, sat on the sofa, and turned on the tivi", John recounted.

Two hours passed, and John grew hungry. He wondered if it would be overstepping to take food from the owners. As he approached the refrigerator and gently opened the door, he heard voices outside the front door.

"I thought I had turned off all the lights before we left", a woman said.

The snow-covered outdoor furniture outside the house where John sheltered 41 years ago. Photo: CNN

John's heart raced, and he closed the refrigerator door. The woman opened the door and stepped inside. John quickly introduced himself and explained his presence. The two homeowners smiled, saying they had seen John's car down the road.

The homeowner, Virgil Schmitz, lived with his girlfriend. They welcomed John warmly, without suspicion, and invited him to dinner, offering strawberry pie with cream. They let John stay the night, providing blankets and pillows for him to sleep in the living room, and prepared breakfast for him the next morning.

The next morning, the snow had stopped, and the sun was out. After a hearty breakfast, John called the tow service, who promised to return and take his car to a repair garage.

While waiting, John walked around the yard. He took out his pocket camera from his backpack and snapped a few photos of the 15 cm of snow covering Virgil's outdoor furniture.

Soon after, the tow truck arrived, and John bid farewell to the homeowners before leaving. Over 40 years later, in autumn 2021, John drove from southwest Missouri, where he lives, to Kansas City to watch a Chiefs football game with his brother.

Mid-journey, he realized he was on the same highway from years ago, just traveling in the opposite direction. Suddenly, he decided to turn onto the small road leading to the old house.

A sense of familiarity washed over him. Then he noticed what moved him most: the porch light he had seen from the road that night was still on. "It was just a small detail, but it melted my heart", John said.

No one was home. After a few minutes standing silently on the driveway, John left.

About a month later, John passed through the area again. This time he was with a friend and began telling her the old story. They decided to turn into the farm once more.

They sat in the car for a while, and John noticed the porch light was still on. Then a man emerged from behind the house and approached. John rolled down his window, seeing a tall man in a blue worker's shirt with "Vernon" embroidered on it. The man struck up a conversation, asking if he could help John. After hearing John's story, the man smiled and said that at a Thanksgiving gathering last week, they had just mentioned John.

Vernon Schmitz, the man speaking with John, was the son of the homeowner, Virgil Schmitz, who had passed away years ago. Still, Vernon knew who John was because he had heard the story of the young man his father met in 1980.

John stepped out of the car, Vernon shook his hand and invited them inside to see the house again. Although empty, the place felt as familiar as it did back then.

"I could still picture the sofa where I watched tivi, the refrigerator door I opened just before his father returned, the kitchen table where we ate pie and cream", John recalled.

John (left) poses with Vernon in front of the old house. Photo: CNN

This time, John did not miss the chance to capture the moment. He and Vernon took a few photos outside the kitchen door and by the gate with the "Schmitz Farm" sign.

Vernon shared that the story had become a family legend among the Schmitz family: the tale of the young boy stranded by a broken car who found refuge on Thanksgiving Eve. For John, it also shaped his youth.

Before leaving, John and Vernon exchanged contact information. Four years later, they remain in touch, sending holiday cards with the message, "We still remember you".

John also got to know Nadine, Vernon's sister and Virgil's daughter. Nadine stated that her father's act of opening his door to John that year reflected his kind nature. "My dad never considered anyone a stranger. My brother no longer lives on the farm but still leaves the porch light on", Nadine said.

For John, now in his 60s, the story of the couple who welcomed him that Thanksgiving remains "one of his favorite stories" to tell about his youth.

Anh Minh (According to CNN)