John Joseph Theriault helped to save Monique Daigle from falling, Bathurst, New Brunswick, March 30, 1989. Miss Daigle, 18, fell about 30 feet from the top of a 130-foot-high cliff bordering the Tetagouche River before she grabbed hold of a young tree growing out of the cliff, thus stopping her fall. Alerted from his house nearby, Theriault, 29, store manager, went to the scene. Realizing that Miss Daigle was in a far more serious situation than he had foreseen, Theriault left to summon help, enlisting the aid of his brother. Returning to the cliff, Theriault began to descend it, in the dark, with his brother. They maneuvered along the face of the cliff, which contained patches of ice, and positioned themselves at a point just below Miss Daigle, intending to break her fall should she lose her hold. Rescue workers arrived and dropped a rope to them, but it was just beyond their grasp. With Theriault holding to his brother’s belt, the brother leaned away from the cliff face and grasped the rope. After he tied the rope around himself, the rescue workers pulled him up to Miss Daigle’s position, and he was able to secure her. As the rescue workers then pulled him and Miss Daigle to the top of the cliff, Theriault returned unaided, retracing the course he and his brother had set out upon 90 minutes earlier.
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