JACKSONBURG, Ohio – It was a cold January day. Brookelynn Pruitt, age 13, was braiding her horse Oliver’s mane. Oliver got a little nervous, watching something. That attracted Pruitt’s attention to the two girls walking on the ice on the farm pond.

“So I looked up and that’s when I saw them,” Pruitt said. “That’s when I saw the girls on the ice. I thought, ‘that’s not really safe. I should probably go check on them.’ Then I saw one of them fall in. I saw the other one go to help her and then she fell in, too.”

Hope Ritter and Nevadah Burton, both 11 years old, had been strictly warned away from the farm pond, but they were bored. They first started throwing rocks on the ice, then tentatively stepped on the edge; it held, so they walked out a little farther.

“Me and my friend were walking on the ice,” Burton said. “She fell in so I went out to try and help her and then I fell in. We were screaming for help and Brookelynn came and saved us. I was cold-cold.”

Added Ritter: “I fell first and I asked Nevadah for help. I probably should have just told her to get help.”

Pruitt could see the girls were in trouble. They were cold and having a hard time swimming. The next thing she knew she was next to them.

“I realized I was cold and then I realized: ‘Oh! I’m in the water, too,’” she said. “I had to break the ice to get them out. It was tricky to break through it but I just slammed into it and broke a patch so I could get them out. I told the oldest one to grab onto me and she held onto the younger one so I kind of just paddled them back to shore.”

She wanted to be sure the girls were OK, so she walked them back to their house, after asking her barn manager to look after Oliver.

“Then I went home,” Pruitt explained. “My mom is a nurse and she was able to help me. I couldn’t feel my toes, my fingers got numb and I couldn’t feel them either. I was cold. I couldn’t imagine what the girls felt like because they were in the water longer than me.”

Russell Beckner saw the story of the rescue on the local news. He and his grandson, Ryland Beckner, head up Ohio Family Farm Safety, sponsored by Butler County Farm Bureau (BCFB). They present safety demonstrations and hand out safety literature. He and Ryland agreed that Brookelynn deserved recognition. They spread the word. The community responded.

Steve and Judy Bartels attend the Jacksonburg United Methodist Church and knew Hope and Nevadah. They gained permission to use the church facility for a ceremony so long as they took COVID precautions. Cathy Minges, BCFB office manager, gathered the awards.

The three girls, their families and friends assembled at the church on a recent Sunday. Hope and Nevadah were a little embarrassed but they had learned a valuable life lesson. They came to honor Brookelynn.

Ryland Beckner, who has farm safety as his FFA Supervised Agricultural Experience, presented Brookelynn with a Certificate of Heroism, sponsored by BCFB, and a $100 gift certificate to Tractor Supply, where she buys Oliver’s feed. Russell gave the family a Farm Bureau membership and handed out Ohio Family Farm Safety T-shirts to the three girls.

“A lot of farms have a pond and when the pond freezes over there are different thicknesses of ice,” Ryland Beckner said. “Sometimes you might step on and you think it’s thick and you fall in. You never know how thick it is unless you measure it. I’m glad it all turned out OK.”