PITTSBURGH Carnegie Medalist sets age record

Another honoree, 74, from Oregon, aided a wounded man despite sniper fire.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- An 82-year-old woman who stripped off her clothes and dove into a pond to rescue a fellow retirement-home resident from drowning became today the oldest person honored in the 99-year history of the Carnegie Hero Fund, established to recognize human courage under extreme conditions.
Carolyn Kelly, a retired medical technician, heard a car splash into a pond at the Glen Retirement Village in Shreveport, La. She jumped in and held 83-year-old Nina Hutchinson's head above water until help arrived Sept. 1, 2002.
"I'm surprised that nobody my age has gotten the award before. There are a lot of people my age that are very active," Kelly said.
Harlem Hutchinson, 90, who was driving, said he caused the accident by hitting the gas pedal instead of the brake but was able to drag himself 50 feet to safety through the 11-foot deep pond. Nina Hutchinson died a day later of heart trouble.
Authorities in Shreveport, about 240 miles northwest of New Orleans near the Texas border, had hailed Kelly as a hero.
"When you are there and that is happening, you either have to do it or live with your conscience forever," Kelly said. "We were the only people there, and it had to be so."
Kelly credited swimming almost daily as a child in Mississippi for her abilities. "We don't have a pool here. They say when you learn, you never forget," she said.
Under fire
Among 16 others honored Thursday were 74-year-old Marguerite Zachary, a retired nurse, who treated and comforted her wounded apartment manager despite being under fire by a sniper in Dallas, Ore., Sept. 24, 2002.
Zachary stayed by her apartment manager, who was shot four times, until police arrived. The gunman was arrested after a five-hour standoff with police. The apartment manager survived.
Other recipients were Joel Schuneman, 40, and Robert Donalt Perry, 38, who rushed to their neighbor's home in Dearborn, Mich., when it exploded from a natural gas leak July 16, 2002. Schuneman and Perry scrambled through the house despite plumes of burning gas to reach Robert and Deanna Boer and help them to safety.
Posthumous awards
Taxi driver Rodney Lee Venice, 43, of Fenton, Mo., one of three people awarded Carnegie Medals posthumously, helped a woman escape from a man pistol-whipping her in a Sunset Hills, Mo., parking lot Nov. 19, 2000. Venice pulled the gunman away from the woman, allowing her to drive to safety; he was shot three times and died.
Industrialist Andrew Carnegie started the hero fund in 1904 after being inspired by rescue stories from a mine disaster that killed 181 people.
Awards are given only to those the commission feels risked their lives to an extraordinary degree in attempting to save the life of another in the United States or Canada. On-duty emergency workers and police are not honored unless their actions are clearly beyond the call of duty.
The awards, bronze medals that come with $3,500 for the honorees or their survivors, are issued five times a year.
About $26.7 million has been issued in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits and continuing assistance over 99 years.