Mary Ann Dowdell saved James A. Brust from drowning, Scranton, Pennsylvania, February 27, 1965. James, 9, who could not swim, slipped on ice-covered rocks bordering a pool in Roaring Brook and fell into the very cold water. He flailed wildly and alternately rose and sank as the current carried him downstream toward an area of rapids leading to a high waterfall. Mary Ann.,13, schoolgirl, fully clothed except for shoes, entered the pool, swam 20 feet, and reached James in water 10 feet deep as he again returned to the surface. James grasped Mary Ann by the hand. She towed him five feet to a nearly vertical rock mass at the side of the pool. Treading water, she raised James upward so that he was able to attain a seated position on a small ledge. Mary Ann then also climbed onto the ledge, where they crouched beneath the overhang of the rock with their legs still in the icy water. Two men summoned by Mary Ann’s brother took prone positions atop the rock. Reaching downward, they lifted James and then Mary Ann from the ledge.
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