James Richard Kilby died attempting to save Wendy L. Leed and Faith A. Bankus from drowning, Conestoga, Pennsylvania, May 15, 1989. Wendy, 16, and Faith, 17, were thrown from their raft while attempting to ride it over a dam in the Conestoga River. The rough water at the base of the dam took them toward the center of the river. Fishing nearby from a bank of the river, Kilby, 42, construction laborer, tied one end of a clothesline around his waist and, as another man held the other end of the line, dived into the river. Kilby swam to within a few feet of Wendy and Faith when the line broke. He submerged. Wendy and Faith maneuvered away from the dam and toward the bank, where the other man helped them from the river. Kilby’s body was recovered downstream 10 days later.
64042 – 7477
64042-7477Obituary
An avid outdoorsman who loved fishing and hunting, James Richard Kilby, died attempting to save two girls from drowning in the Conestoga River in Conestoga, Pa., on May 15, 1989.
In an editorial afterward, the Lancaster (Pa.) News lauded Kilby’s heroic act, which came as he was fishing. “Kilby was warned that his rescue attempt was dangerous,” the paper reported in a piece titled “The real heroes of ’80s.” “But the 42-year-old construction worker, the father of three, waded into the Conestoga, anyway — where a strong current pulled him under.”
Kilby, who lived in Conestoga, was born in Lancaster, the son of John H.F. and Catherine Steffy Kilby, according to an obituary published in the Lancaster New Era on May 27, 1989. The Army veteran, who was married to Julie Galcerano Kilby, won various trophies as a snake hunter. He worked for Mechanical Welding Inc. in Wakefield, Pa., and was a member of Safe Harbor United Methodist Church in Conestoga.
“Fishing was his life,” his daughter, Melissa, was quoted as saying amid a search for his body. “He died the way he would have wanted.”