Jean McDonald Burgmeier helped to save Jeffery M. Kraft from falling, Dubuque, Iowa, May 6, 2000. Jeffery, 7, and a friend were playing on a wooded hillside atop a bluff bordering the Mississippi River when Jeffery tumbled down a steep slope. He stopped his fall by grasping rocks and earth just short of the edge of the bluff, then climbed back up the slope to a point from which he could make no further progress. Frightened, he clung to the hillside. Ms. Burgmeier, 39, elementary school principal, was riding her bicycle in a neighborhood atop the bluff when she learned of Jeffery’s fall from his friend. She immediately responded to the scene, then, establishing voice contact, began to descend to Jeffery. Maneuvering to a point just above him, she wedged herself into a rock formation, then reached down and grasped Jeffery by the hand. She secured him for several minutes until rescue personnel arrived. Forming a human chain, firefighters reached the two, then passed Jeffery to the top of the slope and helped Ms. Burgmeier up. Jeffery was treated at a hospital for cuts and bruises, from which he recovered.
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