Sorry guys, let me both apologize and explain. Yesterday was very very hectic and I didn't get the entire story, and what I did get I wasn't clear when telling it here. Everything is taken care of for now, so this morning I was able to question my wife more carefully. So..
I scheduled a septic tank pump out yesterday while I was at work. My wife was home. I would have been there if I expected a problem but this was supposed to be routine. The septic guy showed up about noon and told my wife to run all the faucets, tubs, and flush the toilets because it was "too dry". He told her he normally had a helper with him but he was working alone. The helper he said was to shovel up what was on the bottom. He said more water flowing would help. I don't see how, but then I've never pumped a septic tank. So I don't think the tank was low, I think the guy was a dunce. He said to call them back in 6 months for another pumpout and this time they would bring a water truck.. I think I'll call someone else...
Also, my tank is a 1000 gallon with three hatches. One in the middle that was tight fitting, and two towards the ends that were smaller. The septic guy only removed the middle one. I don't know the significance of that but I'll post a picture of the hatches if anyone wants to see them and comment. I assumed that he would open the end hatches, but again, I'm not a septic tech and don't know. But wait, there's more!!
Now, during the 10 minutes my wife was running the water for the septic guy, the flow slowed and it started putting out sediment. The water stopped completely. My wife called me and I returned home immediately to see about the water. I have a ridiculous reserve of water so I knew that the well wasn't run out. I looked down the well head anyway and the water was around 20' down on a 250' well. Plenty of water.. I found the breaker popped (uh-oh) and the well pressure at 10lbs. I threw the breaker and I could hear something (soft whine?) but it wasn't building pressure, so I shut down the breaker. I pulled the control box off and found the motor start cap hot and leaking. I installed my backup control box, turned on the breaker, and same thing. I checked the voltage to the motor and was getting 238VAC, but about 15 seconds after throwing the breaker I heard a loud buzz from the panel and the breaker tripped.
Cutting to the chase, the pump died during the septic procedure. It was at minimum 15 years old so it was ready to die anyway. I had a local company come out and pull the pump (250') and change it out, so everything for now is back to normal.
Again, sorry for the misinformation and not clarifying that it was my well pump and not a septic pump, and many thanks for the replies.
John