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Flood provides a memorable connection
Man will donate to ministry of woman he helped to save
06:26 PM CST on Monday, March 20, 2006
By KIMBERLY DURNAN / The Dallas Morning News
Mark Lovvorn may never know why he happened to be in the right place to assist a stranger as she clung to a tree in the raging waters of Turtle Creek. But he was certain that God played a role in the rescue.
BRIAN HARKIN / DMN
Mark Lovvorn was on his way home from church Sunday when he helped save a woman who was caught in flood waters. A 51-year-old deacon at First Baptist Church of Dallas, Mr. Lovvorn said his family long has funded an endowment at Dallas Theological Seminary for students interested in overseas missionary work. The rescued woman, Nicole Lew, is a 27-year-old seminary student who sha! res Mr. Lovvorn's passion for spreading God's word.
! When the y spoke again Monday, the longtime bank executive told her he wanted to contribute to her education and ministry.
"I told her when I was down there with you, I could clearly see God had his hands on you then, and I can tell you God will have his hands on you in the future," Mr. Lovvorn said. "I told her there will be times in your ministry when you get discouraged, and I want you to think back on this and how God spared your life and has a purpose for you."
Ms. Lew said that Mr. Lovvorn's encouragement has strengthened her desire to become a missionary.
"I understand that life is really short so you need to pick something that will make an impact," she said.
SMU
Xin Du The crisis began unfolding Sunday afternoon, when the woman stopped her convertible on Wycliff Avenue at Turtle Creek Boulevard. She and her passenger, 23-year-old Xin Du, were out shopping for a gift when their car stalled. The women got out of the car as the creek was rising.
A witness to the scene, Robert Charter, 44, of Dallas had just left an Oak Lawn restaurant when he saw the women exit the car carrying purses and an umbrella. He said the women tried to wade to safety but lost their footing and were pulled into the roiling currents. Each managed to grab onto a tree.
Ms. Du, a Southern Methodist University student from Shanghai, China, who was working toward a Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology, was swept away when she lost her grip. She later was found dead.
"One of the girls had an umbrella and when she fell it acted as a plow and dragged them over," Mr. Charter! said. "I climbed down the embankment, and I grabbed a stick,! but it didn't reach her. All I could do was sit there. I was just stunned and felt helpless."
Mr. Charter's friend, Sam Cathey, 39, of Dallas said he called 911 and struggled to explain his location.
"I told them they were in the water, and I told them what intersection we were at, but they said that intersection didn't exist," Mr. Cathey said. "They kept saying they didn't understand. A woman in a black BMW got back in her car and drove around and told them where we were."
Meanwhile, the water was rising and Ms. Lew kept shimmying up the tree. "She was a tiny head bobbing in the water," Mr. Charter said. "There were leaves in her hair and mud on her face."
That's when Mr. Lovvorn, still wearing his suit from church services, stopped to help. He stripped off his coat and tie before sliding down the muddy embankment.
"When I got down ! to her the water was rushing too hard to get to her. I was yelling to her to hang on to that tree," he said.
Shouting to make himself heard over the rushing water, Mr. Lovvorn kept telling Ms. Lew to keep her back toward the current so it would push her into the tree. Her arms barely circled the trunk.
"She yelled to me that her friend could not swim," he said.
Mr. Lovvorn kept encouraging her and frequently yelled "two hands" when one would slip off the tree. Ms. Lew called back that she couldn't hold on.
Mr. Lovvorn, an experienced open-water swimmer, kept promising that rescuers were coming, but he would get her if she slipped.
Eventually, Dallas Fire-Rescue workers arrived and tossed her the rope. Ms. Lew struggled to tie it around her waist while clinging to the tree. After she finally secured the knot, rescuers dragged her to safety.
"We all pulled her up on the bank. She looked up at me with a big smile, just grate! ful that she had made it," Mr. Lovvorn said, adding that he c! redited the many people who were involved in the effort. "With that kind of water it was the grace of God that saved her life."
Mr. Lovvorn's wife, Patty Lovvorn, had been traveling home from church in a different car when her husband told her by cellphone to avoid Turtle Creek and that someone was in the water. Then he hung up.
"I knew he would immediately go out there and help," Mrs. Lovvorn said. "I was thinking, ‘I hope he doesn't go into the creek,' because it looked really bad, and I know he has confidence in swimming. I was concerned."
The Lovvorns, who are the parents of four children ages 8 to 23, said it was a gift to learn that Ms. Lew was a Christian interested in missionary work.
"It was such a great connection," Mrs. Lovvorn said. "My husband talked to her this morning, and she was very encouraged by what he said. She had questions in her mind while she was holding on to that tree, and he told her the Lord had saved her for spe! cial work. It's been very emotional."
E-mail kdurnan@dallasnews.com
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