Last week in Victoria, two people were honoured for helping to save the life of a young man, who got caught out on the water of Francois Lake during a storm, nearly a year ago.
Syd Neville, who tragically perished, was honoured posthumously with the Royal Canadian Humane Society's Silver Bravery Medal, presented by Lt. Gov. Judith Guichon, for his efforts in helping his nephew Malachi Moriaty stay atop of their capsized fishing boat.
Neville's wife and two children were on hand to accept the award on his behalf.
The second honoured was Sheila Lovas.
She presented the Bronze Bravery Medal by Lt. Gov. Guichon, for helping to save the life of Moriaty, then 21-years-old, after he, and his uncle got caught on the waters of Francois Lake during a storm, in June of last year.
Lovas can still remember the day like it was yesterday.
She had been in town for an event for her son's graduation, and remembers it being a colder day.
"I was in the process of making some dinner, and amongst all the white caps and rough water, I saw somebody out there," Lovas said.
Once Lovas realized what the situation was she hoped into action.
Lovas, who owns Sandy's Resort, phoned one of her regulars, a man she regularly goes fishing with, and they both jumped into his boat and made their way out towards the capsized boat.
When they got out to the boat they found Moriaty.
"This young man was in total distress," Lovas said, "he couldn't move, he couldn't talk and the colour of his skin was something that I'll never forget."
Lovas ended up wrapping a blanket around herself, and Moriaty, who, Lovas said was stiff as a board, his extremities could not bend, and rushing him to shore where many more people had shown up with blankets.
Moriaty was rushed to the hospital in Burns Lake, and then transferred to Prince George.
Despite her efforts, Lovas says she doesn't feel especially heroic about what she did on that day last June.
“I keep telling people that if I saw what I saw how could I not do anything,” Lovas said, “it just happened, and in a bad situation I was in the right place. It’s a mom thing, I just instinctively had to do something.”
She says that despite all the congratulations she has received, there was really no other option and likes to point out it wasn’t just her.
“I just can’t see how I could’ve done anything else,” Lovas said, “it’s a huge honour, but to single myself out of the amount of people that arrived instantly to help, it kind of feels like taking something away from everyone that helped out.”
Burns Lake Search and Rescue responded to a Francois Lake boating accident on the evening of June 7, 2013. Despite efforts from local RCMP and search and rescue crews from Burns Lake and area, a specialized search team from Idaho and numerous residents, crews were unable to find and rescue Neville.