BILL SMITH broke the surface of Tims Ford Lake, his uncle, Bobby Smith, in one numb hand, and his 3-year-old son, Jess, clutched desperately in the other. The 48-degree water bit into their skin through their soaked layers of clothing, dragging them down despite their life vests. As Bill’s head went under once more, he had to choose between saving his son, whose whole life stretched before him, and his 62-year-old relative. Within seconds of releasing his uncle, one of the seats from their sunken boat floated to the surface, and Bobby grabbed it.
For at least 20 minutes, the trio remained in the chilling waters, fighting the river channel’s current in their futile efforts to reach Bear Trace Golf Course. Bill knew they wouldn’t survive without outside intervention.
“I knew we were all going to drown; I just didn’t know in what order,” he said in a story published in The Moore County News following the accident.
Meanwhile, Charlie Sullivan piloted a pontoon boat with his co-workers, Marc Bell, Chad Stovall, and Matt Heath. The crew, who worked for Danny Sullivan at Lakeside Docks & Marine, was headed for the dam, returning from a spur-of-the-moment lake home dock repair. It was just another day at the office.
“I thought I heard something,” Charlie Sullivan said in The Moore County News story. “I couldn’t identify the noise, so I turned the motor down to idle speed and listened. We could hear cries for help and began looking across the water to see where it might be coming from. Then we saw the debris and people out in the middle of the lake.”
The pontoon boat’s top speed was 10 mph, a five-minute drive to the spot where the three helplessly awaited, but a boater barreled toward the three from the other direction with no signs of slowing down. When the dockworkers’ screams and waving arms did nothing to gain the speeding boater’s attention, Sullivan, hands tense on the wheel, steered the pontoon boat and redirected the boater, barely avoiding tragedy. Now, the four could focus on pulling the trio from the deep, December waters.
As the pontoon drew closer, they realized a small child was involved. Jess was the first pulled aboard.
In speaking about the event today, Sullivan said, “I was so glad I had a full crew that day because with their clothing being waterlogged, it took all of us to get them up onto the front of the boat. We peeled off some of our layers, covered them up, and tried to situate the propane heater to warm them up as much as possible.”
Sullivan called emergency services, and Bill called his wife, Christy.
“I called 911 and got them to dispatch the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency to the state park as that was the closest ramp. Luckily, they were there when we arrived to help get them the medical attention they needed.”
No one was seriously injured. When recalling the event, gratitude and a sense of divine intervention are as present today as they were 22 years ago.
“We were there doing our job, but we were really put there by God that day for a reason,” Sullivan acknowledged. “I was the commercial foreman and traveled most of the time building marinas, so it was unusual that this particular crew was on Tims Ford that day.”
Bill agreed, “It was the Good Lord because they weren’t supposed to be there.”
Bill’s uncle, Bobby, lived several more years. That seat that popped up just in time to hold him above the 120-foot-deep lake waters? Bill said when they removed it from the car’s trunk the next day, it had to weigh at least 100 pounds.
“There was no reason it should have floated. It was waterlogged,” Bill said, as amazed today as then.
Today, Sullivan is the Leading Edge Real Estate Group broker in Fayetteville and a father himself. The weight of saving young Jess on that cold December day in 2002 is more poignant than ever.
He said, “Children are our most special gifts, and I’m glad we could help save this child. I hope if the roles are reversed one day, someone will be there to help my children.”
Fortunately, Jess only has a single memory to contribute when others talk about that day.
“The only thing I kind of remember is drinking hot chocolate at the hospital, and that’s about it,” he recently stated.
His mom, Christy, however, will never forget.
“After the accident, we held each other a little tighter and tried to never take anything for granted. We were a young family and didn’t have a whole lot,” she explained. “They are my whole world, along with my daughter, Cassie, who was 1 at the time, and I’m not sure what I would have done if I had lost them. I’m so thankful that the Lord saw them through.”
Sullivan’s heart of service continues today.
He said, “Helping people is what fuels me, whether at work with my clients and the agents in my office or at home. I love Fayetteville because of the community feel here, and it seems we all help each other out.”
Whether it’s a helping hand out of frigid waters, into a new home, or changing a diaper, Sullivan pours his heart into everything he does. When we do the same, a spirit of empathy pilots the boats of our lives straight into the paths of those who need us most.
Caring spirits encased in hearts of gold unite us. We draw strength from one another, our good deeds prompting others to pay it forward, making our lives and the places we live richer for it. GN
