“I honestly thought I was going to lose my family that day,” Roberta Ursrey said. “It was like, ‘Oh God, this is how I’m going.’ ” The children went for a swim, got caught in a riptide. The parents went after the children. They were all going to drown.
“These people are not drowning today,” [Jessica] Simmons remembered telling herself. “It’s not happening. We’re going to get them out.”
She and her husband organized a human chain; eighty people; one-hundred yards into the water; swimmers and non-swimmers alike. You have to see the video.
“I got to the end, and I know I’m a really good swimmer,” Simmons said. “I practically lived in a pool. I knew I could get out there and get to them.”
The first responders. People without badges are always the first responders. And they don’t come with lifetime pensions paying more than what you make.
“It was the most remarkable thing to see,” Simmons said. “These people who don’t even know each other and they trust each other that much to get them to safety.”
The family understands fully what occurred:
“I am so grateful,” [Roberta] Ursrey said. “These people were God’s angels that were in the right place at the right time. I owe my life and my family’s life to them. Without them, we wouldn’t be here.”
Just something good to remember.
