24 April 2009
Katherine Elam Lifesaver, Ranger for a Day
Posted by admin under: recognition .
Funny, I could have sworn I blogged on this little girl before, but I can’t find it now. Well, if you haven’t heard about Katherine Elam, Sam Hodges says she’s a Brownie Girl Scout who saved her brother’s life.
In the early evening of Feb. 15, Katherine was at home playing with her brother Andrew, age 5. He began to choke on some candy.
“He was turning really red,” Katherine recalled.
The girl called out to her mother and stepfather in the kitchen. But instead of waiting for them, she grabbed her brother from behind.
“I pulled as hard as I could,” she said.
She pulled hard enough to cause Andrew to cough up the candy, ending the emergency and leaving him with instant commentary of the little-brother variety.
“His first words were, ‘She made me throw up,’ ” said Nicole Elam, their mother. “The ironic thing is he was choking on Life Savers.”
Sure, the Girl Scouts think she’s great.
This was a big weekend for Katherine. On Saturday, she received the Girl Scout Lifesaving Award Medal of Honor.
The Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas – whose ranks include nearly 40,000 girls in 32 counties – typically has only one girl a year honored with that medal. And Katherine is one of the younger ones to get it.
But what about everyone else?
For her lifesaving heroics earlier this year, the Brownie Girl Scout from Carrollton was invited to throw the ceremonial first pitch before the Texas Rangers-Kansas City Royals game at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
The young right-hander wore a Rangers jersey, topped by her Brownie Girl Scout vest, and tossed her version of a fastball.
There you go. Either become an important politician or save somebody’s life. Then you get to toss the first pitch. I wonder what they clocked her at? 
- How to Save a Life
- Girl Scout Saves
- Cassie Bowls a 300 in Lifesaving
- Kentucky’s Georgia
- Daisy Rescues Drowning Infant
