Brady Libby and his son Brock, stand on the Dockham Shore Estates dock on Lake Winnipesaukee in Gilford, where the elder Libby rescued Andy Copanas of Bedford last July.
Brady Libby and his son Brock, stand on the Dockham Shore Estates dock on Lake Winnipesaukee in Gilford, where the elder Libby rescued Andy Copanas of Bedford last July.
GILFORD — Not all heroes wear capes. Some, like Brady Libby, are in swim trunks.
On the afternoon of July 28, 2019, Libby decided to spend the afternoon with his family at the Dockham Shore Estates beach on Lake Winnipesaukee and ended up saving the life of Andy Copanas. Libby will be honored with a New Hampshire Hero Award this week.
Libby, 47, was in the area between the neighborhood association’s dock and a swimming platform a short distance away when he heard a commotion coming from just beyond the dock and saw Copanas, 71, of Bedford, fighting to stay above the surface.
“I dove/swam” the short distance to Copanas, said Libby, who planted his legs on the lake bottom and then picked Copanas up under the arms and lifted him above the water, which was choppy because of the large volume of boat traffic in the area.
Although Libby’s head was underwater for the first few steps, he carried Copanas onto shore, where many of the people who had been at the beach rushed to help.
Someone called 911 and Gilford Fire-Rescue responded, but Copanas refused treatment. Libby thought the incident was over until his mother, Signe Bowker, nominated him for a New Hampshire Hero Award.
Presented by Citizens Bank, the New Hampshire Hero Awards are held each year to honor residents who have risked their lives to save or attempt to save the life of another during the previous year.
The 2020 Hero Awards are scheduled for noon to 1 p.m. Friday outside Tupelo Music Hall in Derry.
Libby, a 1992 graduate of Gilford High School, lives in Campton and has a carpentry business.
In her nomination, Bowker wrote that Libby was watching his two sons, Brock and Meryk, when a woman exclaimed “Is that man out there (Copanas) OK?”
“Realizing it was someone struggling he (Libby) immediately began swimming toward him (Copanas),” Bowker said, eventually bringing him into shallow water.
“I asked if he (Copanas) could speak and he did,” Bowker said. “After a few minutes he said that he kept swallowing water and the waves kept moving him farther out. He said one time he looked up and saw the sky and the clouds and wondered how deep the water was where he was.”
Copanas, who was the guest of a relative who owns a home in Dockham Shore Estates, remembered being on a float in the water.
“It wasn’t a very large float and I was trying to get off it and I thought I was in shallow-enough water. But when I put my feet down — I had water shoes on but they didn’t seem to grip the sand — what I was facing was the deep water. I kicked out with my feet to get my footing and that got me in more deep water.”
Copanas said before getting into the lake, he had removed his hearing aids, which affected his balance.
“I lost my balance in the water, and I went down once or twice and found myself at the end of the dock,” he said.
“Yeah, I was starting to panic,” Copanas said. “I know how to swim but was unable to get my bearings to start swimming. I was really concerned because I had swallowed water and had difficulty understanding which way was up to get out of the water.”
“If he (Libby) hadn’t helped me, I might not be talking to you today,” Copanas said.
Libby downplayed his actions, saying while he was happy that Copanas thought they were “awesome,” he had a somewhat less dramatic take on them.
“I didn’t run into a burning building and didn’t really put my life at risk,” Libby said. “I was just doing a good deed.”
