06/17/2026
If you did not see Tuesday's Highlands News-Sun, get a copy and read how the Lake Placid community pulled together to help a local veteran who was homeless get back on his feet. It truly does take a village.
It all started when a 15-year-old girl named Beau Cooper spotted a distressed, shirtless man pacing outside of his truck in the parking lot behind Dunkin’ in Lake Placid. She went home and prayed for him.
A couple of days later on May 3 and out of the blue her family decided they wanted doughnuts. This was something they did maybe once a year. And that is when Aleesa White Cooper, Beau’s mother, after picking up their dozen donuts, decided to start talking to the man, Wallace Pence, in the parking lot. He turned out to be homeless. Beau called this serendipitous encounter “God’s work” because what happened next involved dozens of community members who, each in their own way, came together to help another human being.
Aleesa found out Wallace, an 84-year old veteran, had been forced from his rental in March when it was suddenly sold. Unfortunately, he did not have the means to secure another home, so he was forced to live out of his truck.
Pence, nicknamed “Doc” for no other reason than his brother called him that and the name stuck, was born in Rawley Springs, Virginia. He served in Germany in the Army for three years, came home and worked as a painter and furniture refinisher. That job came to an end when he fell off an 18-foot ladder and injured his shoulder. The doctors told him the sanding work was affecting his lungs, so he quit and lived off his meager Social Security and Veterans Administration disability payments.
Divorced with no children, he was renting a place with a friend when “a guy came to us one day and said ‘I just sold it and the new owner wants both of you out right now.’ We had to pack our stuff right then and there and move out.” His friend took off, he hadn’t heard from his brother, and that’s when Pence moved over to the parking lot behind Dunkin’ and lived out of his truck. He said, “I’ve just been trying to make it a little at a time. If something comes up, I pay it, but I stay broke most of the time.” Recently he had to pay for new tags for his truck in the amount of over $400. His truck is a 1995 Dodge Dakota (no longer manufactured).
Since then, others have stepped forward to help with housing, medical care, truck repairs, food, etc. and even a Go Fund Me page was established. We commend this community who pulled together to show their support for a complete stranger who sacrificed his life for this country. Thank you Wallace Pence for your service.
