Jan. 25--Scott Van Duzor remembers the day he saw his employee of 27 years die a hero.
Van Duzor, owner of Van Duzor Construction, Inc., stopped by an Aurora job site to drop off a few things for carpenter Dennis Hunke of Plainfield in October 2014. The two were chatting through the driver's-side window of his truck when an 84-year-old woman lost control of her vehicle as she backed out of a nearby driveway and into the road.
Hunke, 51, walked over to help the woman after she rolled into a yard across the street, Van Duzor said. As he spoke with her through her open driver's-side door, she stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake, knocking him to the ground. Hunke died shortly thereafter.
Hunke was recently honored posthumously by the Carnegie Heroes Fund Commission, named for Pittsburgh steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who was inspired by stories of heroism during a coal mine disaster that killed 181 people, including a miner and an engineer who died trying to rescue others.
"It did my heart good to hear that," Van Duzor said. "He needed to be recognized."
For Hunke's family members, the honor has helped as they grieve the loss of the father and husband.
"My husband had a purpose," said Kathy Maloney of Plainfield, Hunke's window.
Maloney said the award especially helped her 16-year old son as he grapples with his father's death: "Dad didn't die uselessly," Maloney said.
Hunke was one of two area men recognized in December by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. Established in 1904 in New York, the award recognizes those "who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others," officials said. The group awards medals and cash several times a year. It has given away $37.7 million to 9,821 awardees or their families since 1904.
Eighty-five were recognized as Carnegie heroes in 2015 throughout the United States and Canada. Four of those, including Hunke, died in their rescue attempts.
Kevin O'Connor, 42, of Ottawa, also received the award for his efforts in a fatal kayak accident on the Fox river in Geneva. O'Connor was visiting downtown Geneva in April 2014 with family when he emptied his pockets and jumped in the Fox River after a kayaker had been thrown from his canoe. The paddler's boat overturned going over a small dam, officials said. Another man in the boat, a 26-year-old from Bloomington, died in the accident.
Geneva police Officer Chuck Parisi remembers stepping out of his patrol car and watching an unconscious man float under the State Street bridge.
"My first thought was, we've gotta get this guy out of the water," Parisi said.
Fortunately, Parisi said, O'Connor was on the side of the river and jumped right in, without needing time to remove the equipment and gear that would hold up a police officer.
"It's not something you would normally expect someone to run in and do," Parisi said. "It would have been a lot worse if he hadn't done that."
O'Connor, said he was "humbled and shocked" by the honor. When he got to the kayaker, the man had stopped breathing and was slipping out of his life jacket, O'Connor said. The former police officer put the kayaker in a headlock, pounded his chest and swam to shore.
At the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, investigations manager Jeffrey Dooley said he and his staff comb U.S. and Canadian newspapers daily in search of heroes. They then pull police reports and interview witnesses to determine whether someone qualifies for the prize.
"It makes you appreciate the fragility of life, some of these," Dooley said.
O'Connor said he was surprised to learn other Carnegie winners died in their rescue attempts.
"It kind of gives you a wake-up call," O'Connor said. "I was one of the lucky ones."
Winners, or their next of kin, will receive a medal from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission and a $6,000 award, officials said.
gbookwalter@tribpub.com
