Honorees

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Year Honored
1995
Honoree
Ethel M Speros
Agency
Willow Street Ambulance Assn
Agency City
Willow St
Agency State
PA
Last Call
3/15/91
Cause of Death
Other Trauma
Biography
She was affectionately known as "Ethel the Nurse" by the 455 employees at Burnham Corporation where she worked as an industrial nurse. Friends and fellow emergency medical technicians knew Ethel as a hard worker, dedicated to helping others through her work as a licensed practical nurse, emergency medical technician with the Willow Street Ambulance Association,and auxiliary member of the Willow Street Fire Company.<br /> <br /> During her years as a volunteer with Willow Street, Ethel received the Jefferson Award for "outstanding public service benefiting local communities" and the Joel E. Grottenhaler Volunteer Recognition Award from the Pennsylvania Emergency Health Services Council.<br /> <br /> Heroic rescues were nothing new to Ethel. She and her husband Ernest once rescued a man from a burning car just seconds before it exploded. However, on Monday, November 11, 1988, Ethel's heroic attempt to rescue an accident victim from his car failed, and she was crushed by a falling wall. The victim had lost control of his car and smashed into the front of a house.<br /> <br /> Ethel had crawled into the car's back seat to support the victim's neck so he could be placed on a backboard. As she worked, the front wall on the second floor of the house collapsed causing tons of bricks to fall on the top of the car in which Ethel worked. Without any warning, she was pinned across the back of the front seat. Rescue workers, assisted by the homeowner and his bulldozer, removed Ethel from the wreckage. She was resuscitated and taken to Lancaster General Hospital where she remained for two months before being transferred to a rehabilitation hospital. Unfortunately, Ethel never recovered from the injury she received during the rescue attempt in 1988. She remained bedridden and comatose until her death on March 15, 1991.<br /> <br /> Ethel and Ernest Speros had two daughters, Stephanie and Michelle, and one son Ernest.<br /> <br /> The accident victim Ethel attempted to help was sentenced to 23 months in prison for drunk driving.<br /> <br /> Honored 1995