‘Overwhelming emotions’ for Sidney man saved by equipment his fundraiser helped buy

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SIDNEY — For years, Rich Rutherford has supported the Sidney Fire Protection District by hosting a fundraising car show at the village’s annual Fun Daze.

More than ever, he realizes the potential impact of his efforts.

Equipment that Rutherford helped purchase through his Earl Bennett/Keith Kropp Memorial Car Show helped save his life earlier this year.

“Everything worked just perfectly, from the dispatcher to the fire chief (Corey Lilly) doing work on me to the ambulance driver to getting to the hospital,” Rutherford said. “Everything had to work out just perfect for me to survive that night.”

The longtime Sidney resident was grouting floors of his new home in the village on Jan. 7 when he realized that something wasn’t quite right. He was woozy enough to suggest to his wife, Lori, that they call it quits for the day and return to their other house.

They weren’t slated to move into the new home for another month or so. They took separate cars to the new house to get work done on that bitterly cold winter day. Rich arrived home first.

“As soon as I got in the house, I sat down in my chair,” Rutherford said. “And just something told me to call 911.”

Lori arrived while that call — which yielded potentially life-saving advice — was in progress. She was instructed to make sure Rich chewed four aspirin tablets without water to aid blood flow.

Chief Lilly was on the scene about three minutes later.

“Corey showed up and he came in the door and you could just tell, he just said ‘Oh my God’ because he knows me and everything,” Rutherford said. “I was just pale white and profusely sweating and everything like that and so he started right in on getting leads and everything, checking my pulse, blood pressure, everything like that.”

Rutherford was having a massive heart attack. The main artery going into his heart was completely blocked.

“He was definitely in a bad way,” Lilly said. “We gave him a little bit of help, and he’s doing a lot better.”

Time was on his side.

“They said if I would have been 10 minutes later calling or anything like that, I wouldn’t be here right now,” Rutherford said.

The incident brought Rutherford and Lilly — previously acquaintances — closer together.

“He’s set this up ever since I can remember, and I have always kind of known about him,” Lilly said of the car show, which returns Saturday. “He’s just a good dude that wants to bring a cool car show to the Sidney Fun Daze to help the fire department out.”

Fast thinking saved Rutherford’s life. Fast cars played a role in keeping him alive, too.

Money from the car show helps the Sidney Fire Department invest in life-saving equipment like what was used on Rutherford that day.

“Lately we’ve purchased a few more fire-related things because we’ve been dealing with a bunch of ISO stuff to get ranked in their ISO categories,” Lilly said. “We’ve had to buy a few things here and there. Anything that the community gives to us, it’s given right back to them as far as equipment that we can use to help them.”

Rutherford, a proud member and former president of the Sundowners Car Club, has long played a role in organizing the show.

His beloved 1968 Chevy II Nova will be among the rides that are expected to be on hand on Saturday. It’s a show that annually draws a stunning turnout given its roots in a village of 1,180 people.

“Last year was our biggest show ever: 171 cars is a lot of cars for a small town,” Rutherford said. “If you get anything over 60 cars for a small town, you’re doing fantastic. And we were busting at the seams.”

Among the items on the weekend’s agenda: renewing relationships.

“It’s your car family,” Rutherford said. “It’s people you don’t get to see all the time, but when you do get to see them, you get to find out what’s going on in their lives.”

“So many people follow me on Facebook … and everybody’s coming up to me and saying, ‘hey, we’re so glad you’re still around’ and everything, ‘hope you’re doing better’ and everything like that.”

A critical concern for a small department like Sidney’s is staffing.

Lilly was the only one who responded to Rutherford’s call that night on the truck; two others responded in their personal vehicles.

What numbers the department does have, however, are highly impactful. Look no further than the contributions of Bennett and Kropp.

Bennett passed away in 2019 after spending the previous decade as the village’s fire chief. Kropp suffered a heart attack in 2016.

“Both of them were great guys who would give you the shirt off their back to do stuff for you,” Rutherford said.

Lilly never had the chance to meet Kropp — the proprietor of Sidney-based Redneck Apparel Co. — but knew Bennett as an individual who gave his all to the village.

“He was a good, good man,” Lilly said. “He taught me about everything I know, him and his kids … would do anything for anybody, take a shirt off his back.”

As for Rich and Lori’s move to their new home?

The village gave its all to the couple while Rich recovered from his heart attack.

“I was so overwhelmed with how many people came out of the woodwork to help us,” Rutherford said. “I’m not one of those people who asks for help and everything, and when we moved, we had like 30 people on one Saturday, and then the next day we had like 30 people with trucks and trailers.”

It was a fitting display of unity in a village that annually benefits from Rich’s fundraising efforts.

“The fire department came out and helped us, so many friends, I mean friends I hadn’t seen in a while came out of the woodwork, it was overwhelming emotions.”

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