by David Miller
Symmes Township, Ohio – Last week, on Thursday, June 3rd at 7 PM, the Loveland-Symmes Fire Department along with the Symmes Township Trustees recognized six-year-old Township resident Holden Patrick Smith. Holden just graduated from kindergarten at the Loveland Primary School a few days ago.
Holden’s quick actions and awareness in June of 2020 when he was five-years-old led to saving the life of his much younger cousin Magnolia Jane Smith-Camp.
Young, Magnolia came within seconds of losing her life while swimming. “Thankfully, she has made a full recovery,” said Deputy Fire Chief Billy Goldfeder.
“As the water fun season is upon us, we are taking this opportunity to recognize Holden for his actions, but to also aggressively take advantage of this incident to remind our Loveland-Symmes community, along with the greater Cincinnati area of the critical importance of water safety awareness and kids,” said Goldfeder.
Here are two videos of the ceremony that took place at the Loveland-Symmes Fire Station 61. One is the full ceremony and brief interviews with Holden, his grandmother, and his teacher. Watch as Goldfeder explains what Holden did.
The second LOVELAND MAGAZINE TV video is much shorter, but it best explains the message Goldfeder wants to be embedded in parent’s and caregiver’s minds – how to protect children when they are around water. And, this is as you will see, a very important message for your child as well so that they will know what to do when someone is in trouble at the pool.
Goldfeder asks, “Who is your designated watcher?”
Goldfeder wants to know, “Who’s watching the kids?”
