Richard L. Brown saved Walter L. Bushey from burning, Enfield, Connecticut, April 23, 2010. Bushey, 79, who used a wheelchair, was inside his one-story house after fire erupted in the attached garage, which adjoined the living room. As he attempted to leave the house, his wheelchair became lodged in an interior doorway. A neighbor, Brown, 64, who was disabled, observed flames and smoke issuing from the garage and roof of Bushey’s house. Despite recovering from recent surgery and having difficulty with mobility, Brown approached the burning house, calling to Bushey and his wife. He climbed over the porch railing to avoid the nearby flames and entered the house through its front door. Crossing the living room, Brown located Bushey and his wife in a hallway. He dislodged Bushey’s wheelchair and took it to the living room and outside to the porch, where others aided in lifting Bushey to safety. Bushey’s wife also exited the structure to safety. Flames spread to the living room. Brown and Bushey and his wife were all taken to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation, and they recovered.
83168 – 9451
83168-9451Obituary
Richard L. Brown, 67, a resident of Enfield, Conn., for more than 46 years. He died March 16, 2013.
Brown was a true renaissance man. Everything he pursued in life he excelled at, from structural steel estimator, to restaurateur, to semi-pro bass fisherman, to a three-handicap golfer. In 2010, he went into his neighbor’s burning home to save him, later receving the Carnegie Medal.
Brown was a communicant of Holy Family Church and a member of the Bass Master Club of Hartford, Conn.
(Edited from an obituary in The Hartford Courant, March 17, 2013.)