South Shore teen says she received miracle from ‘tire angel’ weeks after losing father to cancer

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Alyssa St. Croix wasn't sure what to do after her she blew a tire in Kingston on Thursday. It was the first time her Jeep had ever broken down.

"I got off the highway and my tire was just flat as flat as can be. I don't know what happened," St. Croix said.

The 19-year-old Plymouth woman called more than a dozen repair shops. She said none would fix her flat because her spare tire was locked and missing a key.

But then she called Town Fair Tire.

“She came in for a flat. She needed one tire, then I looked at the other tire and I saw the still cord showing and they said she didn’t have the money for it and I couldn’t let her go like that,” said Marc Garthwait, the service manager at Town Fair Tire in Plymouth.

Garthwait has worked there for 10 years. He said he has a son Alyssa's age and was concerned about one of her other tires, so he bought her a brand new one – a $150 tire out of his own pocket to keep a customer he had never met safe.

>>>MORE: Showcase cinemas reopening 9 theaters in Massachusetts

“A stranger and another dad took care and looked out for her, it just made me feel like my husband was there and tapped him on the shoulder and said, ‘hey that’s my baby girl right there,’” said Alyssa’s mother, Rachel St. Croix.

The past few months have been especially difficult for Rachel St. Croix and her family. She lost her husband of 28 years to cancer on Father’s Day, so the generous act of kindness could not have come at a better time.

“You never know what someone’s going through and to be that kind, sometimes to give someone the push they need to keep moving forward when they’ve just about given up, which is pretty much where I was at,” St. Croix said.

Rachel St. Croix said her husband, Mike, fixed everything around the house and was always under the hood, taking care of their cars and their family.

"Like you always think you can have it bad, but there are strangers that can really touch you and he really, really made my day," Alyssa St. Croix said.

The family said they have been in contact with Marc Garthwait through Facebook and said they’re amazed on how humble he is.

The St. Croix’s also have a GoFundMe account set up to help relieve some of their financial burden.

Cox Media Group