Ross J. Ferraro

Ross J. Ferraro, 38, steel cutter, saved William H. Weber, 6, and Mary Ann and Virginia J. Weber, each 8, from falling, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, January 8, 1967. William, Mary Ann, Virginia, and their seven-year-old brother climbed up a steep gully in the rock face of a hill. They then made their way along a horizontal ledge atop the rock wall. The seven- year-old boy started back down the gully. William, Mary Ann, and Virginia were too frightened to descend and remained on the ledge, which was 240 feet above a highway, calling for help. By then it was dark. Ferraro heard the calls and went to the foot of the hill just as the seven-year-old boy rolled down the final 10 feet of the gully. He told Ferraro that his brother and two sisters were stranded on a ledge. Using a flashlight, Ferraro began to ascend the gully. He grasped exposed roots and twigs, testing each to make sure it would hold. Some of them pulled out or broke off. At least three times the loose shale in the gully caused him to slip backward. After climbing 260 feet he reached the top of the gully and, guided by the children’s voices, moved 60 feet along the narrow ledge atop the rock wall. He reached the children after climbing for about 40 minutes. By the beam of the flashlight Ferraro noted that the slope above the ledge rose at a lesser angle and that there was a semblance of a path to a wooded area. He lifted each of the children five feet to the path and told them to form a chain., which they did. Taking William by the hand, Ferraro led the children over the rocky terrain which was slippery from spring water. Progress was difficult and at times Ferraro grasped a tree to keep from falling. After climbing for a half an hour and traveling about 200 feet diagonally through the wooded area, they reached the top of the hill.