Missouri Highway Patrol Cpls. Jonathan Wilson and Shayne Talburt have been selected as the November State Employees of the Month.
Wilson, of Poplar Bluff, has served in the patrol for almost eight years. Talburt, of Doniphan, has served almost 11 years with the patrol.
Wilson and Talburt were given the honor after rescuing a family of seven on May 26 on the Current River in Ripley County. According to patrol reports, Wilson and Talburt were patrolling the river and saw the family floating down the river in a group of inner tubes tied together.
Wilson saw the tubes had flipped over because the rope that was used to tie the tubes together came loose and that caused everyone to be thrown into the water.
One of the children, a 5-year-old girl, was tangled in the rope and had turned blue. The man was able to free another child, but in the process floated down the river away from the rest of the family. The woman also had floated away from the children.
Wilson started rescuing the children, beginning with the 5-year-old girl who coughed out water from her lungs and began to breathe on her own. Wilson called Talburt to assist because Wilson's boat was beginning to take on water. Talburt was able to get all five children into his boat while Wilson got the man and woman in his. Back on shore, the woman and 5-year-old girl were taken to a local hospital for treatment of water-related injuries.
The woman, who was mother of three of the children and aunt to the other two children, told patrol officials that all seven members of her family would have died without the quick action of Wilson and Talburt.
Patrol officials also noted that during the Memorial Day weekend, Wilson and Talburt assisted approximately 20 other floaters who were having trouble on area rivers.