Saved from Niagara Falls and Saved from Sin

If I alert you to July 9 being an important anniversary, you probably will wonder what it is, since July 4, our national birthday, overshadows other dates.

July 9 is the anniversary of an astonishing event at Niagara Falls, NY. The principle figure has come out of obscurity to speak freely. This year, it was the 50th anniversary of Roger Woodward’s unprotected plunge over the famous falls, the first person ever to survive the 162-foot drop into the raging waters below and live to tell about it. Both he and his sister, who was part of the drama, kept a dual silence for most all these years.

Roger and his family lived near the surging Niagara River, which is fairly placid a distance above the Falls but angry and deadly as the swift water moves closer to the site that attracts tourists from the entire world. Seven-year old Roger was bored that July day in 1960 until Jim Honneycutt, a friend of the family, offered to take Roger and his sister, 17-year old Deanne, for a ride in his 12-foot aluminum boat, which was powered by a small but trusty 7.5 horsepower motor. Roger’s mother insisted the kids have life jackets and that Roger be wearing his from the start.

Off they went from a trailer park dock in Wheatfield, NY. Honeycutt drove the boat downstream, eventually saying that he would show them a very special view of Niagara Falls as the mist would be seen rising in the distance. Unwittingly, he guided the boat too far downstream for his small motor to pull against the accelerating current. The rapids increased, and Honeycutt made sure Deanne had the only other life jacket on and Roger’s was tight.

Suddenly the boat ground across the rocks, and the motor sheared its drive pin placing the trio at the complete mercy of the surging Niagara River. Worse, the boat was flipped by the mounting waves, and all three found themselves helplessly swept toward the brink.

Jim Honeycutt went over, and, as is typical, his body was imprisoned under the Falls for three days before it appeared at the Maid of the Mist boat dock.

Associated Press writer Carolyn Thomson’s July 16 story about Roger quotes him saying, “To this day, every time I hear the story I can smell the water.”

Thomson wrote, “For Woodward, the worst part was the brutal ride through suffocating whitewater where he was tossed from Honeycutt’s boat after it struck something, became disabled and was pulled into the powerful rapids.‘This water looks like it’s as big as a house with the waves and the rocks,’ he says. ‘One minute you’re pulled underwater, you can’t breathe, you wonder if you’re ever going to breathe again. The next second you’re thrown up into the air and you come down and you’re glancing off of rocks as you’re going through the rapids.’

“He says there was a peaceful moment, though — while he was going over the brink of the Falls.“‘I was floating in a cloud,’ he says. ‘I had no sensation of up or down. I didn’t have any sensation in my stomach like you might have on a roller coaster ... that moment when your stomach is in your throat.’”

Because young Roger was so light, he was thrown out over the edge and landed away from the churning water at the base of the Falls. Capt. Clifford Keech was just steering his boat away from the spot in the lower river where the Maid of the Mist passengers view the Falls from below. Someone shouted that there was a bright orange life jacket in the river with a boy in it and that he was alive! Keech knew instantly that no one had fallen off his boat and the boy had to have come over the falls. With Keech’s masterful maneuvering, Roger was able to grab the lifeline on the third toss and was pulled to safety, shouting, “My sister’s still in the water! You gotta help her!”

The boat crew couldn’t help her, but God, in His mercy, did through two brave men among the onlookers on shore above the falls. Deanne Woodward had been miraculously swept toward the shore on the American side of the river. A crowd had gathered beside the raging current, watching the girl as she swept toward the brink. Years ago, I spoke with a man who was there that day. He said, “Women were screaming, some were praying, and some were fainting.”

In his July 2 article, Don Glynn of the Tonawanda News told it this way: “John Hayes, 44, of Vauxhall, N.J., a bus driver and auxiliary police officer, spotted [Deanne] shortly after he witnessed her brother pass by. ‘Girl, come to me!’ Hayes shouted, again and again. Deanne said later, ‘It was the power of that man’s voice that kept me from giving up.’ As she got closer to the railing, Hayes tried to snag her arm. He missed but dashed along the shoreline, realizing he was running out of ground. John Quattrochi of Penns Grove, N.J., rushed to the railing, too, and helped Hayes pull Deanne from the river and onto the pavement.”

They were 20 feet from the brink. Deanne, safe on the shore, screamed, “Pray for my brother! He’s going over the Falls.”

And prayer was answered. Forty-eight hours later, Roger was released from the hospital with only a bruise on his head. Deanne suffered a cut hand. Fifty years have passed, and the two now speak freely about their divine deliverance.

Roger puts it more personally. In Thomson’s recent article he said, “But it wasn't until 20 years later that the boy who had not regularly attended church was encouraged by a friend to go after finding himself troubled by nagging ‘Why am I here?’ questions. From that day forward I was able to answer that one huge question, and the answer to the question was this: God saved me that day, July 9, 1960, because he knew at age 27 that I would come to know him as my savior.”

Years ago, Roger said “I guess the Lord saved me the first time so he could save me the second time.”

Roger described God’s purpose in his twin deliverances, not only for himself but for everyone. His Niagara Falls deliverance gave him another 20 years of God’s patient grace. Our purpose for being born once is to be born twice—being “born again,” as Christ Himself said. “…unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. … unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. … Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” (John 3:3, 5 & 7) God keeps us alive so we can hear the Gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection, believe it and be saved.

The old hymn by George Root outlines the urgent need for ultimate deliverance from the spiritual Niagara of an unsaved death:

“Come to the Saviour, Make No Delay”

Come to the Saviour, make no delay:
Here in his Word he’s shown us the way;
Here in our midst he’s standing today,
Tenderly saying, “Come!”

Suffer the children! O hear his voice!
Let ev’ry heart leap forth and rejoice;
And let us freely make him our choice:
Do not delay, but come.

Think once again, he’s with us today;
Heed now his blest command, and obey;
Hear now his accents tenderly say,
“Will you, my children, come?”

Joyful, joyful, will the meeting be,
When from sin our hearts are pure and free;
And we shall gather, Saviour, with thee,
In our eternal home.

Dave Virkler