Sioux Falls, South Dakota — On July 6th, Billie Rothenberger had an hour of free time at Lake Alvin to paddleboard. As she walked towards the beach, she had no idea what was going to happen.
“I started to hear a man, and his breathing was getting really, really ragged, and the mother sounded increasingly frantic. So I began rushing, thinking that maybe I could, maybe they needed assistance,” explained Billie Rothenberger.
A man and his 15-year-old son were swimming near the buoys, but both were struggling to stay afloat. Rothenberger paddled out to them, but by the time she arrived, the boy was underwater.
“I was kneeling on my board with a life jacket looped around my arm, and I just started searching the water, and I noticed that Lake Alvin isn’t the cleanest lake. So I saw a shadow of what looked like the top of his head,” Rothenberger explained. “And I just jumped in and was able to get my left arm around him, and I brought him back up to the surface.”
As Rothenberger paddled out, Kent Walz heard the commotion from his fishing spot. He arrived at the beach as Rothenberger pulled the boy to shore.
“At that point, I started doing some compressions on his chest to make sure that he was breathing and his heart was moving,” Kent Walz told me.
Yesterday, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office presented Walz and Rothenberger with a Life Saving Award.
“If it hadn’t been for their actions in getting into the water to save him, it would have been to their detriment. Specifically, Billie jumped in to help him, and Mr. Kent acted quickly to perform CPR. Garrett Welsh, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy, stated, “If they hadn’t done that, I believe this would have turned out much more tragic.”
Still, neither of them believes they are heroes.
“Well, it’s a human reaction to, I think, to help someone out when they’re in danger or having problems,” Walz said.
