VHS graduate Tim Fellars awarded California Medal of Valor

Another former Vista High School graduate who might be more deserving of a special day in his honor than Carrie Prejean. Are you listening Jim Gibson?


http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_c79cd643-f68d-5b11-b13e-5100c0185155.html


VISTA: Former resident earns governor's Medal of Valor
Park ranger helped save family of six from drowning
By CIGI ROSS - cross@nctimes.com Posted: Wednesday, January 6, 2010 12:00 pm


A former Vista resident was awarded the Governor's Medal of Valor last month for his part in rescuing six people from a boating accident off the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve south of San Francisco.

Timothy Fellars, 41, a 1986 Vista High School graduate, now lives in Half Moon Bay and works as a state park ranger. Fellars was one of 27 people awarded the medal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at a ceremony in Sacramento on Dec. 10.

The medal, established in 1959, is the highest honor a state employee can receive. In the past 50 years, more than 400 people have been given the honor for performing extraordinary acts of heroism that saved human lives, according to the state's Web site.

Fellars' mother, Vista resident Mary Fellars, said her son was surprised to be honored for doing his job.

"He's been lifeguarding for years and he's done a lot of rescues," she said. "This one just had particularly hazardous circumstances."

According to the commendation, at about 1 p.m. June 22 state lifeguard James Nothhelfer and Fellars responded to the coastal reserve in Half Moon Bay State Park where a family of six had been tossed from their boat into the choppy, 54 degree water. Nothhelfer was the first to reach the family, including a 6-year-old boy, and was able to keep the victims afloat in the water until Fellars reached them and helped get the family members into a patrol boat.

Five of the family members were taken by ambulance to area hospitals and treated for hypothermia. The 6-year-old was taken by helicopter to an area hospital for severe hypothermia. Both Nothhelfer and Fellars were unharmed.

Fellars' mother said she was proud to see her son honored alongside a highway patrolman who pulled a woman from a burning car, a police lieutenant who was shot in the face trying to apprehend an armed man and a Department of Transportation worker who saved a man from committing suicide.

"They had all done remarkable, exceptional things beyond the call of duty," Mary Fellars said. "(Tim has) impressed me in many ways. He's always been outstanding."