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Father, son honored for lake rescue
By Nancy Hull
The hysterical woman kept disappearing and reappearing in the five-foot waves.
“You’re gonna die if you don’t grab this net this time,” Joseph Dorcy Sr. yelled to her from the boat.
He extended the fishing net one last time while his son, Joseph Dorcy Jr., steered as the boat jumped up to four feet in a furry of wind, rain and waves.
The Smithville father and son’s Father’s Day had just taken a terrifying turn. The end result, they knew, would be one of two things: life or death.
On Thursday, Sept. 25, the Missouri State Water Patrol and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers honored Joe Sr., 68, and Joe Jr., 44, with Citizen Service Citation awards.
“Heroes” and “lifesavers” — that’s how the organizations referred to the two men.
The father and son were fishing in a tournament at Smithville Lake that day — this past June 15. They’d been on the lake for two hours and hadn’t caught a thing.
Just before 11 a.m., when they were fishing in the north part of the lake near Trimble, Joe Sr. got a call from a friend.
“Get off the water,” the friend said. The radio said 60 mph winds and heavy rain was headed for Trimble, he said.
The clouds were getting darker.
“Dad, let me cast one more time,” Joe Jr. said.
Then it hit.
“Out of no where, the wind came at 60 miles per hour, it blew the boat 30 feet, the rain came, we put on our lifejackets really quick. My son was on the front of the boat. It almost blew him off. I had to pull him back,” Joe Sr. said.
In the distance, they saw boats bouncing around underneath the bridge.
One boat had capsized. Near it, they saw a woman floating over the waves.
Joe Jr. started driving toward her. He had to drive slowly. Water was filling up the boat, and it was rocking out of control.
“I kept thinking, ‘This is it. We’re gonna go,’” Joe Sr. said.
“Help, help,” the woman shrieked as they neared her. She was by the buoys, holding onto the rope that had tied her boat to a Missouri Route W bridge pillar. Her lifejacket was on just one arm.
To get close enough to her, they had to keep the boat between the pillar and the rocks — an about 4-foot space. And they could barely see.
“We almost wrecked the boat,” Joe Sr. said.
Sitting right behind his son, he extended the bass net to the woman and yelled for her to grab it. She couldn’t reach it. Over and over again, he reached it out.
Finally, she clutched the net. Joe Sr. yanked the net near. The woman grabbed onto Joe Jr.’s right arm, and he grabbed underneath her arm with his right hand; he was driving the boat with his left arm. Joe Sr. grabbed her legs. They held her against the side of the boat for at least 10 minutes until they reached the boat ramp.
“Don’t drop me, don’t drop me,” she cried.
When they reached shore, she headed to the bathrooms. And that was the last they saw of her.
“We keep talking about it, wondering how we all survived,” Joe Sr. said. “We were all scared to death, but we hung in there and did what we were supposed to do. We hope somebody would do the same for us. And we wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if we had to.”
The Dorcys never knew the name of the woman — Deborah Olsen from Kearney. Her husband, Terry Olsen, was also thrown from the boat and saved by strangers.
Deborah Olsen wanted to make it to the Sept. 25 awards ceremony at the lake, where the men who saved her were honored, said Water Patrol public information officer Kimberly Davis.
But due to a terminal illness, she couldn’t make it, Davis said.
“She hopes that, someday, she will be able to meet them,” Davis said.
Smithville Editor Nancy Hull can be reached at 532-4444 or nancyhull@npgco.com.
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“You’re gonna die if you don’t grab this net this time,” Joseph Dorcy Sr. yelled to her from the boat.
He extended the fishing net one last time while his son, Joseph Dorcy Jr., steered as the boat jumped up to four feet in a furry of wind, rain and waves.
The Smithville father and son’s Father’s Day had just taken a terrifying turn. The end result, they knew, would be one of two things: life or death.
On Thursday, Sept. 25, the Missouri State Water Patrol and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers honored Joe Sr., 68, and Joe Jr., 44, with Citizen Service Citation awards.
“Heroes” and “lifesavers” — that’s how the organizations referred to the two men.
The father and son were fishing in a tournament at Smithville Lake that day — this past June 15. They’d been on the lake for two hours and hadn’t caught a thing.
Just before 11 a.m., when they were fishing in the north part of the lake near Trimble, Joe Sr. got a call from a friend.
“Get off the water,” the friend said. The radio said 60 mph winds and heavy rain was headed for Trimble, he said.
The clouds were getting darker.
“Dad, let me cast one more time,” Joe Jr. said.
Then it hit.
“Out of no where, the wind came at 60 miles per hour, it blew the boat 30 feet, the rain came, we put on our lifejackets really quick. My son was on the front of the boat. It almost blew him off. I had to pull him back,” Joe Sr. said.
In the distance, they saw boats bouncing around underneath the bridge.
One boat had capsized. Near it, they saw a woman floating over the waves.
Joe Jr. started driving toward her. He had to drive slowly. Water was filling up the boat, and it was rocking out of control.
“I kept thinking, ‘This is it. We’re gonna go,’” Joe Sr. said.
“Help, help,” the woman shrieked as they neared her. She was by the buoys, holding onto the rope that had tied her boat to a Missouri Route W bridge pillar. Her lifejacket was on just one arm.
To get close enough to her, they had to keep the boat between the pillar and the rocks — an about 4-foot space. And they could barely see.
“We almost wrecked the boat,” Joe Sr. said.
Sitting right behind his son, he extended the bass net to the woman and yelled for her to grab it. She couldn’t reach it. Over and over again, he reached it out.
Finally, she clutched the net. Joe Sr. yanked the net near. The woman grabbed onto Joe Jr.’s right arm, and he grabbed underneath her arm with his right hand; he was driving the boat with his left arm. Joe Sr. grabbed her legs. They held her against the side of the boat for at least 10 minutes until they reached the boat ramp.
“Don’t drop me, don’t drop me,” she cried.
When they reached shore, she headed to the bathrooms. And that was the last they saw of her.
“We keep talking about it, wondering how we all survived,” Joe Sr. said. “We were all scared to death, but we hung in there and did what we were supposed to do. We hope somebody would do the same for us. And we wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if we had to.”
The Dorcys never knew the name of the woman — Deborah Olsen from Kearney. Her husband, Terry Olsen, was also thrown from the boat and saved by strangers.
Deborah Olsen wanted to make it to the Sept. 25 awards ceremony at the lake, where the men who saved her were honored, said Water Patrol public information officer Kimberly Davis.
But due to a terminal illness, she couldn’t make it, Davis said.
“She hopes that, someday, she will be able to meet them,” Davis said.
Smithville Editor Nancy Hull can be reached at 532-4444 or nancyhull@npgco.com.