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‘It’s been a long haul’

Hudson-Catskill Newspapers

VALATIE — Dick Decker, who was rescued the night his best friend drowned, and Cliff Finn, who pulled David Champlin’s body out of Oakdale Lake, traveled to St. John’s Cemetery Friday and found Champlin’s grave marker.

Decker returned to Hudson from his home in a small New Zealand coastal village Oct. 17 because he hoped to thank the people who had rescued him from Oakdale’s icy waters Feb. 21, 1953. But he found no one to thank, as most of those who were on the scene had passed away or moved on.

So Decker and his wife, Kerry Ann, drove north, stopping in Saratoga Springs, Saratoga County, to meet Myron “Ed” Tokarchuk, who was actually involved in the rescue but was unable to come to Hudson due to his son’s Oct. 18 wedding. Then the Deckers proceeded to Malone, Franklin County, to visit his some of his relatives.

Meanwhile, Cliff Finn of Red Hook read about the Deckers’ visit in the Register-Star. Finn was in a boat that night on Oakdale, handling the grappling hook, and still recalls seeing Champlin’s pale face rising out of the water.

Finn contacted the newspaper to say how disappointed he was to miss the meeting and to get Decker’s cell phone number.

The Deckers discovered that a good share of his relatives had moved to Syracuse. So, after a shortened stay, they came back south to Red Hook to meet Finn.

Then, accompanied by this reporter, they traveled to Valatie to see if they could locate Champlin’s resting place.

Finn, who is in his 90s now and often short of breath, waited in the car while the Deckers searched for the stone.

Dick Decker found it, not far from Albany Avenue, on a small marker Champlin shares with his father: “Father / James M. Champlin 1909-1940 / Son / David E. Champlin 1938-1953.”

“He was only two when his father died,” Decker said. Knowing how poor the family was, he had half-expected not to find any stone at all.

The marker is amidst the gravestones of the O’Reilly family, Joseph, died 1895, Jennie, died 1917, Mark, died 1927. O’Reilly was David Champlin’s mother’s name, but she is reportedly buried in St. Louis.

“It’s been a long haul,” Decker said, his eyes filling with tears. “I didn’t think I’d ever get here; I’m getting goosebumps through my back. I feel like I’m leaving him again. I can see his face just like it was when I knew him. I don’t consider myself an emotional guy, but this one’s getting to me.”

Finn was 35 when the boys fell through the ice. He was the captain of Edmonds Hose Co., one of the oldest companies in the state.

“I’m so happy that there’s some closure,” he said. “I’ll never forget it — it’s not something I do every day of my life — it sticks with me.”

“The worst thing for me — it was my fault,” Decker said.

“It’s not your fault,” Finn said. “It’s part of life. You were a teenager.”

On the way back to Warren Street, the two survivors stopped at the lake. Decker recalled that there was still daylight when he fell in the lake, but by the time he was pulled out, it was dark.

If a person stands by the diving dock looking out to the lake, the boys fell in almost directly across the lake nearer the opposite shore, a little to the right. The search-and-rescue operations were conducted from the side opposite the diving dock and warming house, where woods come down a steep hill right to the edge of the lake.

“We had to walk along the shore,” Finn said. “We didn’t have to walk on the ice at all. We carried the boat with us.”

The rescue was not conducted in the boat, but by men who used ropes and perhaps sticks, breaking through the ice to reach the boys 40 feet out.

“If you had to wait for the boat, you’d have never made it,” Finn told Decker. “Tommy Gent was a police patrolman — he was strong. Broke right through the ice, then he had to get out. Ed [Tokarchuk] was carried away before you were out.

“As I recall, we tried to get some branches to you,” he said. “They couldn’t get the rope out to you. I didn’t have gloves; my hands got so cold just using the hook.”

The Deckers bid Finn and Hudson farewell and are now enroute to New Zealand.

Decker said the trip brought him some closure. “I always felt bad because I had never come up here except when they buried him. It’s a good feeling to get up here and say goodbye to him. [But] I feel like I’m leaving him again.”

To reach reporter John Mason, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail jmason@registerstar.com.

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