Mom was stranded, afraid she'd miss her son's Des Moines graduation. Then 'guardian angels' appeared.
Sarah Kay LeBlanc
Kirsten Venditti was just a one-hour flight away — a short hop from Chicago to Des Moines — after a day of travel to see her oldest son's college graduation when her flight was canceled.
Then a couple of "guardian angels" swooped in.
The South African mother was stranded without a working phone and knowing no one in the country except her son. She broke down in tears in the Chicago airport.
She'd been traveling for 26 hours straight. She was jetlagged, hadn't slept in almost two days and felt like she was going to faint. It was April 30. The next available flight was May 2, but her son's graduation from Grand View University was May 1.
"I just took a deep breath and thought, 'You know what, whatever it takes, I know I'm going to get to Des Moines,'" she said.
That's when she met Gayle and Dave Boggess.
The Urbandale couple were returning from a vacation in Egypt — most of which Dave spent in a hospital with health issues. They saw Venditti in the customer service line with themselves and dozens of other stranded passengers. They lent her their phone to contact her son through Facebook.
More:West Des Moines couple to appear on new episode of 'Family Feud' game show
Venditti said her son, Alessandro, had planned to meet her in Chicago for a day or two before driving back to Des Moines together. But his car broke down a few days before her flight out of South Africa. The flight to Des Moines itself had been a backup plan.
So the Boggesses stepped in. They were already looking for rental cars before even asking if there was another flight out that night, unwilling to spend one more night in an unfamiliar bed.
"We were standing in line and I was thinking, 'I just want to be in my own bed. I want to get home,'" Dave said.
When they found out about Venditti's situation, their decision was confirmed — they would drive through the night to Des Moines with their new friend.
"They are just guardian angels," Venditti said. "That's what I've been calling them all the time because to do something like that, it's just beyond anything I've ever experienced."
Her husband, who stayed in South Africa due to medical issues, was a bit skeptical when she alerted him. These were strangers in a foreign country, after all.
But, to the Boggesses, Venditti didn't feel like a stranger. Gayle Boggesses could relate to her: She wouldn't have wanted to miss her children's graduations, either.
"I couldn't imagine being so close and not making it," Gayle said. "We just had to help get her there in time."
They arrived in Des Moines as the sun was rising, allowing Venditti to get a few hours of sleep in her hotel just 4 miles down the road from the Boggesses' home.
Venditti made it to her son's graduation in time to see him walk through the Wells Fargo Arena carrying the South African flag.
Alessandro, a soccer player at Grand View, graduated with a degree in business administration and finance. He had surprised his mom with the flight to the United States — completing a circle that started when she flew with him to Iowa four years ago.
When he saw her in the stands, he was filled with warmth and excitement, he said.
"If it wasn't for my mother and my father, I wouldn't be graduating in the first place," he said. "I wouldn't be in America."
Sarah LeBlanc covers the western suburbs for the Register. Reach her at 515-284-8161 or sleblanc@registermedia.com. Follower her on Twitter at @sarahkayleblanc