GOSHEN, MA – That was the headline in the Country Journal last March. The story goes on to explain how Goshen Fire Chief Sue Labrie, after picking up department mail from the Post Office, thought she heard a faint plea for help while walking back to her car. It was a cold winter day. The snow banks were high from the unusually heavy snowfall, temperatures were well below the freezing mark and the winds were howling.
Selectman John Judd had collapsed in his backyard after dropping off his wife at work. He fell down three steps from his porch. There he stayed for the next 4 1/2 hours, unable to move due to complications from the flu and medications he was on to battle kidney disease. He remembers yelling to 35 people that morning. “The only people that heard me were Sue Labrie and the Postmaster”, according to John.
He was told by his doctors that he was within an hour of death from hypothermia. Since that time, John nominated Sue for a Hometown Hero Award – a program sponsored by the Pioneer Valley Red Cross. He presented the chief with a certificate recognizing her efforts at tonight’s monthly meeting of the Goshen Firefighter’s Association.
