Jacob Farley

Jacob Farley

A 26-year-old man will posthumously receive the Carnegie Medal. Jacob Farley, a floor installer from Wichita, Kan., drowned June 21, 2019, while keeping Madison L. Capps from drowning in the Elk River near Noel, Mo. Capps, 21, struggled in the boil at the base of a low-head dam; Farley went to her aid. As she grasped a raft, he swam from the river’s south bank 25 feet to Capps, and positioned himself behind her. For 30 minutes, he repeatedly pushed her up, to keep her afloat. Fire personnel arrived and threw a rope to Capps, who grasped it and was pulled from the rolling boil. Farley submerged and did not resurface. Capps recovered.

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