Six-year-old John Waltz and his cousin, Connor Burnham, were kicking a beach ball around the heated waters of Damariscotta Lake Farm’s indoor pool during friend’s seventh birthday party in Jefferson Jan. 17, when the lighthearted day suddenly turned dangerous.
The boys kicked the ball “into the deep part” of the pool, said John’s sister Zoé. “Connor jumped in but John slipped,” she said. “He started going under the water.”
Zoé, eight, still a novice swimmer by her own admission, quickly looked around for a “floatie” but couldn’t find one. “I just swam as good as I could and held [John] up but he was pushing me under,” she said.
According to Zoé, Blake Feltis, a young boy at the party, brought the children a “surfboard” and together, the children helped John onto the makeshift flotation device until Blake’s mother, Clarissa Feltis, noticed the commotion and helped all the children out of the water.
Zoé’s cool head earned her at least one fan. “I am so thankful that John is okay and I am so proud of Zoé for her quick, calm reaction to a scary situation,” Rebekah Oliver wrote in a text message to The Lincoln County News. “She is my hero!”
Zoé, initially frightened to see her brother flailing and sinking, regained her composure instantaneously. “I was scared when he started going underwater but I wasn’t scared when he started pushing me underwater,” she said.
John, who let his sister do most of the talking in a Jan. 21 interview, nodded his head vigorously to affirm his fright throughout the ordeal and his gratefulness for his sister’s help.
The experience made Zoé, a young equestrienne, reconsider her career plans. She now hopes to be a “half lifeguard, half horse-person,” she said.
Zoé and John Waltz are the children of Rebekah Oliver, of Waldoboro, and Justin Waltz, of Damariscotta. (LCN reporter J.W. Oliver is Zoé and John’s uncle)
(Ed note: Damariscotta Lake Farm has a policy in place that no one is allowed in the pool area unsupervised. In the story that follows there were adults in the area, as is required for all parties of this nature.
“Our policy is for every four children at a party, there has to be a parent,” said business owner Darlene Souza. “People have the option of hiring a lifeguard but most people bring enough parents. The mother that did [this] pool party had more than enough people.” For the convenience of their customers, Damariscotta Lake Farm maintains a list of qualified lifeguards who are available upon request.)