Retired FF & wife honored by Royal Canadian Life Saving Society
A tip of the ol' leather...and a crisp hand salute!
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (AP) - A retired firefighter and his wife were
honored by the Royal Canadian Life Saving Society for pulling a
drowning man from the treacherous undertow of Price Edward Island.
Walter Connery, 62, and his wife Barbara, 50, were vacationing
last August when they heard a young man crying for help on a PEI
beach.
Barbara Connery, a middle school teacher and former lifeguard,
saw the man jumping up and down in chest-deep water. At first it
seemed he was playing, she told the MetroWest Daily News of
Framingham.
Then he pointed out his father further out to sea, struggling to
stay above water. They later found out that Kenny Lutz, 50, had
dived into the surf to rescue a young girl and was pulled out
himself after pushing her to safety.
Barbara Connery jumped in first, and her husband and another
woman followed. It took all three swimmers 15 minutes to bring
semiconscious Lutz to shore, the Connerys said.
Last week, at the award ceremony, the Connerys met Lutz and
learned how timely their rescue was.
"He knew he was gonna die and he decided the next time he went
under he was gonna open his mouth and start breathing the water
in," Walter Connery said.
Walter Connery said he was afraid of losing his wife in the
treacherous undertow, and that inspired him to keep going.
"The adrenalin flows and you don't expect it when you're 62
years old," he said.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
