Staff writer
Hero: A person of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his or her brave deeds and noble qualities.
It was a beautiful summer day Aug. 31, when 75-year-old Ken Christensen of Marion, took his brother-in-law, Joseph Willems, 65, also of Marion, and foreign exchange students Max Wagner and Phillip Gu, both 16, out in his boat around noon.
It was a busy weekend at Marion Reservoir with numerous boats and jet skis waiting to launch at Marion Cove boat dock. Finally it was time for the Christensen ski boat to be dropped in the water.
The water is shallow by the boat dock at that cove, making it difficult to safely lower the boat’s motor without hitting rocks. There were other people on the dock, loading and preparing to shove off.
The next thing anyone knew, the beautiful sunny day became a nightmare.
Willems was in the water with his shirt caught in the boat’s motor propeller.
“I had shoved the boat from the dock,” Willems recalled, and was trying to get the boat away from the shoreline and out to deeper water. Christensen had dropped the 140-hp motor into the water and had started it.
Suddenly, Willems was in the water and in crisis.
Not only was his arm becoming entangled and his chest being pulled closer to the boat’s propeller but his head was under water.
Without any hesitation, Wagner, who had been sitting next to Willems in the boat, jumped into the six-foot deep water to try and free Willems. Within a few seconds, Christensen realized what was going on, and shut off the motor.
“All I could see were Joe’s blue eyes looking up at me through the water,” Christensen said. “We had to get him out of there.”
With Wagner pushing Willems from the bottom of the lake and Christensen pulling from the top, they were able to keep Willems’ head above water to save him from drowning.
In the meantime, one of the boats at the dock just happened to have a physician’s assistant, nurse, and firefighter on-board. They asked Christensen if he needed assistance. And he responded, “Yes!”
Quickly the three professionals went to Christensen’s boat and pulled it closer to shore and in shallow water.
When they reached the shallow water, Willems was able to stand on the bottom of the lake and keep his head above the water but was bleeding from his arm and needed medical attention.
Wagner continued diving, and eventually freed Willems from the propeller.
Willems was placed in the boat and the three strangers from out-of-town began patching him sufficiently to be taken to a local hospital where he received about 20 stitches.
Today, a bandage is wrapped around Willems’ left arm with a few stitches visible on his left hand and wrist. Willems said his chest and ribs are bruised but he isn’t complaining.
“I thought I was going to die,” he said.
“I saw Joe fall in and was shocked. I looked back and didn’t see him but I knew he was there in the water. I told Ken to stop the motor,” Wagner said. “I didn’t really think about it.”
“I was thinking ‘I’ve got to get out of this’. I felt the prop pulling my shirt and I couldn’t pull away. I kept fighting. I started thinking I was going to drown. I was running out of air,” Willems said, his voice becoming filled with emotion.
Willems knows how to swim but swimming skills did not help him.
The U.S. Navy and Vietnam veteran had had close calls but never had been in a situation like this.
Wagner and Gu are guests of Ken and Sunny Christensen for the school year. Both attend Marion High School and had just arrived Aug. 7.
Why was the young man from Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany, willing to risk his life for someone he had known only a short while?
“Joe is an important person to me. We all love him. He’s my uncle,” Wagner said sincerely, putting his arm around Willems. “I didn’t do anything anyone else wouldn’t do.”
As far as Willems is concerned, Wagner is his hero.
“He saved my life and I’ll always be grateful,” Willems said.