Camp owners’ swift action averts holiday boating tragedy

    Two Maryland men had a scare of a lifetime when their 14-foot open fishing boat capsized on East Grand Lake at approximately 2 p.m. on Labor Day.
    The area visitors, Francis Bogdan, 49, of Baltimore and Jannon Chilcoat, 73, of Glyndon, were staying at Wheaton’s Lodge.
    The windy weather condition made the lake rough and the boat keeled over, butting the twosome into chilly water near the arm on the Forest City/Danforth town line.
    Camp owner Juanita Gilbert of Alton said her husband, Mario, noticed something out on the water. He looked through his binoculars, and their neighbor, Wade Junkins of East Waterboro, also got his binoculars and they discovered a boat had overturned.
    Then, noticing a man in a yellow life jacket raising his arms and bobbing in the water, Junkins readied his boat. He and Mario Gilbert made their way out. When they retrieved the gentleman, Juanita Gilbert said, the man told her husband and Junkins that he had a companion with him. They eventually rescued the other person, who was farther away in the water.
    Once on the shore, Chilcoat was suffering from hypothermia, so Susan Ellis, who was at the Gilbert camp, lay down beside Chilcoat to warm him from the cold until the ambulance arrived. Also aiding in the rescue was Jessica Gilbert and Tina Junkins.
    “The men were in the water for approximately one hour when two camp owners on the Danforth side of the lake noticed them in the water drifting,” said Game Warden Ben Drew. “Chilcoat was hypothermic and both men were transported to Houlton Regional Hospital by the Danforth Ambulance. Both men were clearly shaken by the incident and stated they would have likely drowned without their PFDs and couldn’t thank their rescuers enough.”