Have you ever heard of the Dow Award for Outstanding Heroism?
Me neither. I don’t know from what years it was in existence, nor do I know why it was stopped.
But the thing that captured my attention was that the Dow Brewery from Montreal once awarded the prestigious honor to a woman from Tilbury. And once you hear this complete story, you’ll understand why the young mother was deserving of this prize.
The description that went along with this award tells a rather graphic story. The woman was a young mother of two children, and her name was Mrs. Alcide Simard.
The home she lived in was described by the award committee as “only a portion of a charred brick wall remains.” It further explained that it is this way because of a “raging fire” that swept through this farm house one night.
Awakened by the smell of smoke, Mrs. Simard rushed frantically for her children, who were asleep in a nearby bedroom. Sheltering her 18-month-old baby with her night gown and holding onto the arm of another slightly older child, she dashed for the kitchen door, but the smoke became over-powering and she eventually collapsed.
Aroused a few minutes later by the screams of her children, Mrs. Simard smashed her way through a pane of glass and pushed her very frightened children to safety.
She then attempted to climb through the window that she had smashed, but due to smoke inhalation and utter exhaustion she collapsed again. Her husband, who was out in the barn some distance away when the fire started, completed the rescue.
As a result of her heroic efforts, Mrs. Simard was severely burned. The Dow Award committee said “she deserves not only our sympathy, but also our sincere praise for her heroic action. And as a result, the committee was proud to present her with the Dow Award for Outstanding Heroism.”
The story reminds me of the heroism I think every young mother is capable of when it comes to her children. For example, when I was a baby in a carriage and my mother went inside for only a few minutes, she returned to find a huge snake (probably a fox or milk snake) curled around the base of the baby carriage and headed for me.
Without a moment of hesitation, Mom grabbed a nearby hoe from the garden and fearlessly and, with some vengeance I imagine, proceeded to, without any hesitation, chop the head off of this unfortunate, intrepid serpent. And she did all of this with a leg that had been damaged with polio from the time she was a young girl.
I fully realize that over the years the snake has gotten bigger in size in the telling of the story. For me, it began to assume the identity of a deadly copperhead snake. Further, I doubt it was headed in my direction.
But you know what remains in this story. My young mother’s selfless, brave and fearless reaction to a perceived danger that one of her children was experiencing.
And I imagine that any one of your mothers would have done the exact same thing in a similar situation.
Because that is what mothers are all about.
The Gilberts are award-winning historians with a passion for telling the stories of C-K’s fascinating past.