Firefighter rescues neighbor from lake, helps him home

LAKEWOOD — Matt Keller and Larry Jackson live just a few doors down from each other on Lake Ki.

From Keller’s house, he can see his neighbors’ border collies play with tennis balls in the water.

Still, the men had never met, never shaken hands, before Jan. 20. That was when Keller saved Jackson’s life.

It was one of those days when the water is flat and shadows fall, creating a double-image reflection on the 97-acre lake. Jackson was in a 12-foot aluminum boat, looking for a missing dock.

The day before, his family noticed it had floated off. Larry Jackson, 68, and daughter Shelbey, 23, went looking. It grew dark, so he went out alone the next day.

His wife, Sheryl, doesn’t hesitate to remind him she’d warned against that.

The boat battery was draining, so Jackson started to row.

About that time, Keller, 48, arrived home from a bicycle ride. From his downstairs window, Keller saw his neighbor in the boat. He headed upstairs to change out of his cycling clothes.

Meanwhile, Jackson stood up in the boat to move seats. When he started to sit again, “the front end went straight up and the corner went down in the water and that was the point of no return,” he said.

He clung to the capsized vessel, debating whether to try to swim 100 feet to shore.

Keller looked out his bedroom window.

“I looked down and the boat was under water, essentially,” he later told Jackson. “I could just see your head.”

Keller is a battalion chief for the Everett Fire Department, a 23-year firefighter who trains on water rescues every year.

He ran downstairs to a storage room and grabbed two life jackets, a rope and a paddle. He could hear Jackson calling for help. Keller yelled back.

Most of the Kellers’ water toys were put up for the season, so he used a wooden kayak he and his wife, Colleen, had built from a kit.

“It was the worst vessel I could pick, but it was the only thing I had available,” he said.

Keller paddled out and tossed the rope and a life jacket to Jackson, who pulled it on halfway and upside down. Keller started paddling backward toward shore.

He asked Jackson where he was from. Jackson said they were headed that way.

At the dock outside his house, Jackson stood on the bottom rung of the ladder, unable to pull himself up. It felt like the cold had switched off his muscles, he said. He estimates he was in the water 20 minutes.

Keller beached the kayak and grabbed Jackson’s leg. He “spun me around like I weighed 20 pounds,” getting him onto the dock, Jackson said.

“I was still coherent,” he said. “(Keller) said the best thing was I didn’t panic.”

Jackson was having trouble standing. Keller used a “fireman lift” to help Jackson walk into his house.

During the rescue, Keller noticed his neighbor wasn’t shivering. From his training, he knew that was a symptom of severe hypothermia. He hurried Jackson into the shower.

The next day, the Jacksons brought Keller homemade peanut butter cookies and a thank-you note.

“Words can’t express the appreciation I have for the kindness you showed for me on Tues.,” it read. “You are my true guardian angel. Thank you, thank you, for the help. You saved my life!!”

Keller stopped by their house again Jan. 28. He and Larry Jackson hugged.

“Good seeing you buddy,” Keller said.

“Are you the fireman?” Jackson’s daughter, Shelbey, asked him in the kitchen. “Thank goodness.”

It was the same kitchen where Sheryl first met the man who rescued her husband.

“It must have been weird for you,” Keller said. “I just came marching in here. I didn’t pause. I was like, ‘I’m Matt. We’re going to the shower.’ ”

He had asked her if Larry liked coffee, tea or hot cocoa — and whatever it was, to get a pot going.

“We can laugh about it now,” Larry Jackson said. “It took my hands the longest to come back. I didn’t turn the water on very hot, because the cold water felt like the hot water on my hands.”

Since then, Keller’s wife also has reminded him he should have called 911. It just happened so fast, the firefighter said. He can’t believe he missed that crucial step.

In the days since the rescue, the two families got to talking. They found they had mutual friends, that their circles overlapped.

Sheryl’s grandparents, the Freestads, built the first house on Lake Ki, west of Smokey Point, in the 1940s, she said. It’s a place where people still refer to neighbors as “the jeweler” or “the FAA guy,” where smoke from the chimneys floats across the water at sunset, and the same Canada geese return every year in pairs.

Keller met Sheryl Jackson’s father while building his house on the lake.

Robert Freestad, who died in 2007, was known as “the mayor of Lake Ki.” Sheryl Jackson and her daughter both grew up on the lake. It’s easy to grow complacent about the water’s dangers, she said.

In the meantime, Larry Jackson has been thinking about what he has left to do in life.

He’s taken his daughter fishing and crabbing since she was small. They have more trips to take.

He’s also the driver when the family travels to horse shows. Shelbey, who recently graduated college, just got a new quarterhorse.

Shelbey wasn’t surprised that her dad, a retired railroad worker, kept his cool when his boat capsized. He’s always calm, she said, except for at her horse shows.

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Customers enter and exit the Costco on Dec. 2, 2022, in Lake Stevens. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Costco stores could be impacted by looming truck driver strike threat

Truck drivers who deliver groceries and produce to Costco warehouses… Continue reading

Two Washington State ferries pass along the route between Mukilteo and Clinton as scuba divers swim near the shore Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023, in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ferry system increases ridership by a half million in 2024

Edmonds-Kingston route remains second-busiest route in the system.

Want coffee? Drink some with the Marysville mayor.

A casual question-and-answer session between mayor and constituents is planned for March 24.

Judge sentences man for role in human smuggling ring

Jesus Ortiz-Plata was arrested in Everett in May 2024. A U.S. District Court judge sentenced him to 15 months in prison.

Bill Wood, right, Donnie Griffin, center right, and Steve Hatzenbeler, left, listen and talk with South County Fire Chief Bob Eastman, center left, during an Edmonds Civic Roundtable event to discuss the RFA annexation on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Edmonds community discusses annexation into the regional fire authority

About 100 residents attended the Edmonds Civic Roundtable discussion in preparation for the April special election.

Robin Cain with 50 of her marathon medals hanging on a display board she made with her father on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025 in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Running a marathon is hard. She ran one in every state.

Robin Cain, of Lake Stevens, is one of only a few thousand people to ever achieve the feat.

People line up to grab food at the Everett Recovery Cafe on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Coffee, meals and compassion are free at the Everett Recovery Cafe

The free, membership-based day center offers free coffee and meals and more importantly, camaraderie and recovery support.

Devani Padron, left, Daisy Ramos perform during dance class at Mari's Place Monday afternoon in Everett on July 13, 2016. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)
Mari’s Place helps children build confidence and design a better future

The Everett-based nonprofit offers free and low-cost classes in art, music, theater and dance for children ages 5 to 14.

The Everett Wastewater Treatment Plant along the Snohomish River on Thursday, June 16, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett water, sewer rates could jump 43% by 2028

The rate hikes would pay for improvements to the city’s sewer infrastructure.

The bond funded new track and field at Northshore Middle School on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024 in Bothell, Washington. (Courtesy of Northshore School District)
Northshore School District bond improvements underway

The $425 million bond is funding new track and field complexes, playgrounds and phase one of two school replacements.

Timothy Evans, a volunteer at the east Everett cold weather shelter, with his dog Hammer on Monday, Feb. 10 in Everett, Washington. (Will Geschke / The Herald)
Temporary shelter opens in Everett during unusually cold weather

The shelter will open nightly until Feb. 14. Help is needed at the new location, as well as six others across the county.

Outside of the updated section of Lake Stevens High School on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 in Lake Stevens, Wa. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lake Stevens schools bond leading early; Arlington voters reject latest levy attempt

A $314 million bond looks to pass while Arlington’s attempts to build a new Post Middle School again appear to take a step back.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.