SHYPULA o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-09-25 published
Stratford grandpa feared drowned
His grand_son tried to rescue him from a northern lake.
By Brian SHYPULA, Sun Media, Tues., September 25, 2007
Stratford -- A Stratford man is missing and his family fears
he's drowned, despite a heroic rescue effort by his grand_son
near North Bay on Saturday.
The last fishing trip of the season for Bob
NICHOL and grand_son
Rodney HARRISON turned tragic when rough weather hit their small
boat on Lake Nosbonsing.
A wave tossed the 66-year-old man into the cold water, Tammy
HARRISON, the eldest daughter of Bob and Anne
NICHOL, said from
North Bay yesterday.
She was awaiting official word from police.
"Knowing the circumstances and with what had happened, I believe
the worst is inevitable," she said.
"Everybody that knows Dad knows that if this is a fatality, at
least he died doing what he loved best and he died in the place&hellip
where he wished we would spread his ashes."
She said her father wasn't wearing a life-jacket and was dressed
warmly for the early-morning. After he fell in, her 23-year-old
son Rodney threw a life-jacket to his granddad, but the wind
blew it away.
The young man then jumped into the water and swam to his grandfather
with a second lifejacket.
"Rodney said, 'Don't panic. Don't kick. Just relax and don't
waste your energy,' " his mother said.
But NICHOL told his grand_son to swim for the boat, which was
drifting farther away.
As her son swam,
HARRISON said, he kept calling back to his granddad
who kept answering that he was okay.
HARRISON said her son, who is not a strong swimmer, might have
drowned too if he hadn't been able to grab the first lifejacket
as he swam for the boat.
He spent more than an hour in the water before he finally staggered
ashore and was spotted by a man who called police.
Soon after that,
NICHOL's lifejacket washed ashore.
A police helicopter, the North Bay Ontario Provincial Police's
Emergency Response Team and
an Ontario Provincial Police dive
team all helped search.
NICHOL was a cabdriver until he retired a few years ago. He was
also a singer and guitar player, fronting the country-rock band
Solid Silver.
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