Sandra Fay Van Wagner saved Ralph C. Rawls from drowning, Federal Way, Washington, January 12, 1963. While skating at Steel Lake, Ralph, 12, broke through the ice into water 10 feet deep 170 feet from the bank and was submerged briefly twice as he tried without success to climb out of the hole, which was six feet in diameter. He then clung to the edge of the hole the opposite side of which was within four feet of a diving platform. After her father started toward the hole but broke through the ice into wadable water Sandra, 17, schoolgirl, then pushed an inverted picnic table ahead of her as she skated to the platform. She climbed onto it and twice threw one end of a plastic garden hose to Ralph, who made no attempt to grasp it. As Sandra slid the table to the edge of the hole, Ralph again was submerged briefly. Sandra jumped into the water swam five feet to Ralph, and towed him to the side of the hole nearest the platform. When the table slid into the water and floated, she lifted Ralph onto it and then pushed it to the platform, to which she broke the ice with her elbows. Sandra climbed out of the water and then dragged Ralph from the table onto the platform. Firemen later removed them to the bank.
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