Arthur J. Gerrier died helping to save Ida R. Lacroix from drowning, Hanover, Maine, August 24, 1961. Mrs. Lacroix, 37, who could not swim, fell into Concord Pond where her struggles to remain afloat carried her into water seven feet deep. Gerrier, 43, shipping department foreman, entered the water fully clothed, including rubber boots only partially laced. He swam eight feet to Mrs. Lacroix, who weighed nearly as much as he, and attempted to take hold of her. She floundered wildly and caused both to be submerged. Gerrier pushed Mrs. Lacroix to the surface ahead of him and then thrust her toward the bank. She continued to flounder, and both were submerged again. Gerrier once more pushed Mrs. Lacroix to the surface and then thrust her toward a fishing rod which her husband, also a non-swimmer, had extended toward her. She was able to grasp the end of the rod, but its sections came apart. Gerrier then gave Mrs. Lacroix a violent push. His action caused him to be submerged but enabled Mrs. Lacroix to grasp the end of a tree limb which her husband then extended to her and by which she was drawn to the bank. Gerrier did not return to the surface. Help was summoned, and Gerrier was removed from the water but could not be revived.
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