Lake Placid was stunned and numb with grief — as was most of the North Country — when word was received here 65 years ago that their beloved mayor, Dr. George C. Owens, 84, had drowned in a boating accident. Drowned along with him was Lake Placid resident Tom Martin, 68, and Dr. Owens’ guide and camp caretaker, George Madore.

Tom’s wife Lucille ‘Lou’ Martin, 39, was the only survivor.

An eight-column headline in the Enterprise read: “Full Story of ‘Lou’ Martin’s Heroism In Tragedy.”

Subhead reads: “Mrs. Martin Swims 300 Yards for Aid After Grim Night on Canadian Island.”

It was a tragic accident that took the lives of these three men by drowning when their small, aluminum, over-loaded boat capsized in rough waters on Lower Lake Peneseau in Quebec, Canada.

Dr. Owen had served as mayor of Lake Placid from 1933 to 1941 and from 1953 until the time of his death. He came to Lake Placid in 1924 for his health and was still practicing medicine at the time of his death.

Mr. Martin was born in Lake Placid, graduated from Placid High School, trained as a pharmacist and operated the Lake Placid Club Pharmacy.

George Madore lived in Rapides des Jouchim, Quebec which was the location of Dr. Owens camp which he had owned for 40 years. Mr. Madore had worked at the camp for many of those years.

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Story by Margaret Wilson

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Excerpts from the story:

“A gripping story of human endurance and courage unfolds as the details become known of the tragic accident which took the lives of Dr. George C. Owens, Mayor of Lake Placid, Tom Martin, also of Lake Placid and George Madore of Quebec.

“The drama lies in the heroism of Lucille Martin, known as ‘Lou’ to almost everyone in Lake Placid in her efforts to save her husband’s life.

“The grim story was related to The Enterprise this morning by Henry Madore, brother of George. Mr. Madore is the provincial game warden in Rapides des Joachim, and it was he who Mrs. Martin phoned after she made her way out of the bush yesterday morning.

“Mr. Madore reconstructed the events from Mrs. Martin’s story as follows:

“The Martin’s arrived at the departure site about 4 p.m. on Thursday, the 24th on their way to join Dr. Owens at his camp. The doctor had been in camp for about two weeks with his guide and caretaker, George Madore.

“The Martin’s then drove onto the landing on Lower Lake Peneseau, about 17 miles away. There they put up the flag as a signal to be picked up. The doctor and Mr. Madore came across to the landing in an aluminum boat, which according to Henry Madore, had pontoons and air cushions in the seats.

[The aluminum bench seats of those small outboards were sealed water-tight, thus, the “pontoons.”]

“According to Mr. Madore the wind was high and the water very rough, and he said, with four people in the boat, plus additional supplies, there was no doubt they were over-loaded.

“The boat was better than half way across the lake when it was swamped by a high wave, the distance to the camp, according to Mr. Madore was about 400 yards.

“The accident happened at about 5 p.m. George Madore’s watch stopped at 5:10, according to his brother.

“From Mrs. Martin’s account, the doctor lasted only about fifteen minutes in the freezing water. The remaining three kept moving and kicking their feet to keep as warm as possible.

“The high wind and their kicking carried them, still clinging to the boat, down the lake slowly to an island. They were in the water about an hour and a half.

“Mr. Martin was in ‘pretty rough shape,’ but apparently Mr. Madore was then near collapse. Mrs. Martin tried to pull his body out of the water but apparently he died very shortly after they reached shore.

“Ms. Martin then managed to help her husband to higher ground, but according to Mr. Madore, she realized that he needed help and wanted to try swimming then to the mainland. He refused to let her leave in the dark, and they huddled together through the night.

“Mrs. Martin realized that her husband was just about exhausted, and just at daylight she swam to the mainland. She then walked barefoot ¼ mile through the bush to reach the car, and drove back 12 miles to the Madore Inn Hotel where she telephoned Mr. Madore. He estimated that she reached the hotel about 8:45 yesterday morning.

“Mr. Madore organized a rescue at once, and reached the scene about 10 o’clock. When they arrived at the island, however, they found that Mr. Martin had died.

“Dr. Owens’ body was recovered about 75 feet from that of George Madore which was lying on the shore. Dr. Owens’ body was floating, which would indicate that he had had a heart attack. While Mr. Madore could not give the coroner’s cause of death, he believed that both his brother and Mr. Martin would be listed as ‘over-exhausted and exposure.’

“Mrs. Martin was taken to the hospital at Deep River about 3 in the afternoon, according to Mr. Madore. He said, ‘she was numb with cold and suffering from shock and exposure.’

“Mrs. Martin’s brother, George Weaver and Mr. and Mrs. William Frayne, all of Lake Placid left yesterday for the hospital. Rapides des Joachim is about 300 miles from here and lies about 40 miles north of Pembrooke on the Trans-Canada Highway, No. 17.

“Mr. and Mrs. Martin were married four years ago last Saturday at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Bedell of Lake Placid. Last Thursday, they were returning to the spot where they spent their honeymoon, at the doctor’s camp on Lake Peneseau.”

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Bulletin

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“The Enterprise phoned the Deep River hospital at noon today and learned from Dr. F. H. Lapp, who attended Mrs. Martin, ‘that she is very well, and leaving for home today.’ She will return with her brother, George Weaver, who drove to Deep River yesterday.

“Dr. Lapp said, ‘She’s an amazing woman, I’ve never seen anyone who has taken what she did in this ordeal.’ He said her physical condition is excellent, and there have been no after affects.”