Hero medals honor 22 who risked lives for others

(AP) PITTSBURGH - A Pennsylvania woman who lost her life while coming to the aid of a victim of domestic violence was one of 22 people honored with Carnegie medals for heroism on Thursday.

Stacey Lynn Feiling of Mount Pleasant died on June 1, 2010, after stopping to rescue Janet Piper, who was fleeing after being shot by her husband. Feiling was driving home from work and stopped to help Piper. But Piper’s husband confronted Feiling and then mortally wounded her, while Piper fled to safety.

Also honored for heroism in the same incident were Mark A. Garstek and John E. Schwartz of Mount Pleasant, who risked their lives by confronting the assailant and helping others of safety.

Other medal winners honored were from Michigan, Canada, Vermont, Tennessee, Oregon, Kansas, West Virginia, New Jersey, Florida, Nebraska, and Georgia. Among them were three New Jersey men who rescued two people from a burning van that had crashed.

Carnegie medalists or their heirs receive financial grants approved by the commission. More than $35 million has been awarded to 9,598 honorees since the fund’s inception in 1904. New recipients are announced four times a year.

Steel baron Andrew Carnegie was inspired to start the fund after hearing rescue stories from a mine disaster that killed 181 people.

The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, based in Pittsburgh, says its mission is to recognize people who perform heroic acts in civilian life and to provide financial help to those disabled, or to the dependents of those killed, by their heroism.

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Online: http://carnegiehero.org/