Published: August 06, 2008 03:31 pm         

Golden retriever brings rescue to his master

Marvin King was trying to make life a little easier for his wife, Shirley. They had temporarily stored some flowers they had purchased in the garage at their 146 Lynhurst Dr. home in Fairfield Glade. The flowers needed to be moved into the backyard right away. So, the helpful husband climbed on his John Deere Gator to go about the task, as Shirley would be at her job at Hughes Real Estate for a good part of the day. That evening, they were looking forward to joining neighborhood friends for dinner at the Whitestone Inn at Watts Bar. Getting this job out of the way early would make the evening go better.

Smokey, the family's four-year-old golden retriever, was in his usual position, right by Marvin's side as he drove around the house. He doesn't know exactly what happened in the backyard to cause the wreck, but Marvin remembers the Gator was suddenly bounding over two retaining walls; he hit a sidewalk along the way and landed in some rocks. Sitting above Lake Dartmoor, the landscape beyond the immediate backyard is wooded and vertical. That's where Marvin was, Gator still upright, but on top of him with his ankle lodged between the vehicle and a tree. His left leg was broken, he thinks from his collision with the sidewalk. He wasn't really sure what he was going to do. It was about 11 a.m. and Shirley wouldn't be home for quite some time.

"I yelled, but I began to get sick at my stomach," remembered Marvin. "I thought, 'this is going to be a long time.'"

Smokey, very unlike himself, began to bark loudly and run back and forth from Marvin towards a next-door neighbor's yard sounding the alarm.

Keith Pontius knows Smokey Mountain Dawg (Smokey's official name) very well. "I've always liked him," said Pontius.

Shirley recalled, "The family came and got Smokey one day earlier this summer, and the next day I got e-mailed pictures of him with Keith's granddaughters out in the boat on the lake."

Recognizing his main human being, Marvin, was in big trouble, Smokey seemed to know he could trust the neighbor for help. Luckily, Pontius was in his office, where side windows face the vertical part of Marvin's backyard.

"I noticed Smokey's barking because he usually doesn't do that," said Pontius. It was so unusual, that he ventured outside onto the back deck. He still couldn't see Marvin, but the dog's behavior convinced him to investigate.

Pontius found his neighbor laying head pointed down towards the lake and lodged against a tree. It was obvious they'd need help, but down in the cove of the lake, the cell phone didn't have a signal, so it was back to the house to call 9-1-1.

Marvin has been a volunteer firefighter in the Glade for three years.

"I tell you what, when that first fireman (Bob Bennett) came over the hill, he sure looked good," said Marvin. And, suddenly, it was the like the cavalry had arrived, as about 30 firefighters showed up.

Fire chief Bob Citkovic took charge and immediately saw they'd have to get Smokey contained. Marvin was going to be hard to rescue with Smokey licking his face. Pontius took the dog up the hill, but he broke loose to go back to his owner. Eventually, Smokey was convinced to stand back and let the humans take care of Marvin.

The firefighters muscled the Gator off Marvin and brought down a rescue chair to place him in while they pulled him to the top of the hill.

Marvin remembered a comment about the firefighters' struggle to get him topside. "You gave us our stress test for the year," Pat Donohue had told him.

It was hospital food for Marvin that night, not the Whitestone Inn, and that was the way it was for the next six days. He got out on the Fourth of July, and Smokey was so eager when he saw his master was home, he climbed right on top of him in the hospital bed they had set up at the house. There was a lot more face licking.

Marvin had come home with instructions he would be unable to put any weight on his foot for months. As of the date of the interview, July 30, he announced without hesitation, "It'll be nine weeks and three days with no weight on it yet." At the hospital, he had also needed two units of blood due to the effects of heavy bruising.

Recuperating now at his lakeside window above Lake Dartmoor, Marvin laments that there'll be no boating this summer and he won't be able to play golf or tend to the cup setting at Stonehenge Golf Course, where he works. But, he feels incredibly lucky to be alive. "The doctor told me that if Smokey hadn't brought help, I might have died if I'd had to lay there for several hours. I sure think a lot of this dog," said Marvin.

Marvin and Shirley moved to Fairfield Glade approximately four years ago, but have owned their Glade property over 20 years. Marvin, who was born in Kentucky, and moved north to Michigan when he was 18 years old, spent 40 years working at General Motors. Shirley had a financial planning practice with American Express in Michigan. The couple have four children (three boys and one girl) and four grandchildren — the youngest is almost four months old.