Everybody's baby' graduates from high school

[grinner]

Everybody's baby' graduates from high school
By Cory Chandler, Staff Writer
The Midland Reporter-Telegram 05/30/2004

A small grin slid onto Greenwood High School Principal Scott Knippa's lips as he prepared to read the name "Jessica Arron McClure" Friday evening.

But this subtle indicator was the only clue that something momentous was happening.

There were no television crews on hand to capture the event. There were no screaming throngs of well-wishers gathered to watch McClure march onto the floor of Midland College's Chaparral Center Friday evening, her brown hair flowing from beneath a baby blue mortar board, a Gerber daisy clutched in her hands.

When she crossed the stage to shake hands with Greenwood Independent School District board of trustees President Price Robinson a little later, there was little to set McClure apart from the 112 robed GHS seniors receiving a diploma that night.

And that may be appropriate.

McClure's parents have long striven to shelter their daughter from the spotlight her accidental celebrity may have attracted.

Family and friends in Midland County have remained tight-lipped as the girl known once as "Everybody's Baby" prepared for graduation. Those who know her describe her as a "sweet" girl. However, they declined interview requests from the Reporter-Telegram.

"We're just trying to get back to having a normal life," said her mother, Cissy Porter, responding on behalf of both herself and her daughter.

A Long Process

In some ways, getting back to having a normal life has been a lifelong process for McClure.

"Let Jessica live a normal life like all the other children around," wrote Midlander Jim Williamson in November 1988 letter to the Reporter Telegram.

But this is easier said than done. Her fame still lingers.

"Everybody knows I'm Baby Jessica," McClure said in a rare media interview that aired on "VH1's Where Are They Now?" "My first day at school one of the guys said 'what's your name?' I said 'Jessica McClure,' and he said, 'don't tell me you're that baby girl who fell down the well.' Well, being anonymous just flew out the window."

In 1987, McClure became the world's surrogate daughter as onlookers from across the United States and much of the rest of the world gathered around television screens to watch coverage of rescue workers trying to free the 18-month-old baby from an abandoned eight-inch water pipe, where she was trapped.

When McClure finally was freed 58 hours later, the news was broadcast across the globe. Phone calls and letters poured into the Tall City and Midland Memorial Hospital was ringed by drivers honking horns in celebration.

The toddler was honored with parades, television appearances and even a White House visit to meet the president.

She had the eye of the world.

"Thank God, Jessica McClure was rescued and brought back to earth safely," wrote M.C. Lynett from Carefree, Ariz. "My tears and prayers are with her all the way."

This fascination has endured through the years. Books have been written and movies have been made about "Baby Jessica," as McClure soon came to be known.

In a 1997 telephone poll of 2,000 adults taken soon after the death of Princess Diana, McClure's rescue was the only story to rank as high in news interest. That was 10 years after she was freed.

McClure has been the feature of several where-are-they-now-type features, including articles in Texas Monthly and Stuff magazine.

Yet the Stuff article is an example of the painful edge celebrity sometimes can create.

A Painful Hoax

In April, Stuff ran a spoof featuring a bikini model posing in front of a water well. The caption beside the photograph ran a faux interview with a girl named Jessica McClain. In the interview, the girl supposedly responds "It totally was," to a question asking whether she thought the experience was scary.

A Stuff editor later said the magazine thought that by changing the name, people would realize the article wasn't about the real McClure.

But McClure's family did not see the humor in it.

"That was not Jessica," Porter said. "It hurt her feelings."

The article also re-awoke the storm now idle but always present in McClure's life. GHS got calls from national media seeking verification of the photograph and online message boards like the Jessica's Well weblog carried extensive discussions as people tried to verify the accuracy of the feature.

The real Jessica McClure told VH-1 she still gets claustrophobic. She bears scars on her thigh and her forehead.

These symptoms, along with the media attention, are the remnants of an event she doesn't remember.

"I don't have any memory of it at all," McClure said. "Everybody asks me that question. I answer 'I don't know.'"

She's been answering that question as long as she can remember.

"I know I was stuck in a well and they got me out," McClure told the Reporter-Telegram in 1992. She was then 6 years old. "I know people want to talk about it a lot. They were scared for me."

One time, McClure was watching the television show "Rescue 911" and saw footage of the rescue.

"It broke my heart to think that happened to a little girl and someone told me, 'honey, that's you' É It made me cry."

And now, that little girl who snagged the world's heart has grown up.

She was everybody's baby, but as she prepared to walk the stage Friday night, she was just one of the crowd.

Maybe her life is getting back to normal.

link it is hard to believe that this happened almost 17 years ago... I remember this like it happened yesterday. It was the only thing most news programs talked about for weeks.

[Third EYe]

I must have been drunk that month

[stellar]

I too remember this vividly.

[JrMissToughChick]

Originally Posted by stellar

I too remember this vividly.

so do I and I had to very young myself.

[Judith]

Haha...that's hilarious.

Stupid baby in a well.

[stellar]

Judith!!!

I thought you fell into a well. Nice to see ya.

[Judith]

Originally Posted by stellar

I thought you fell into a well. Nice to see ya.

Who told you I didn't?! Lies! Damnation!

Nice to see you too. Speaking of babies, how's yours coming?

[who45]

Wow has it been that long ago...sheesh now I feel older than I will be next month,lol.

[stellar]

Originally Posted by Judith_Shakespeare

Speaking of babies, how's yours coming?

15 more weeks in the oven. I've checked my yard for wells. It's well-free.

[TheBladeRoden]

[mgraylorn]

My folks were riveted to the story. My favorite line was from the rescuer who went down after her. He said it was really hard to breathe, because, "after being in the well for so long, she weren't no spring chicken".