Man braves cold surf to rescue woman

SALEM, Ore. — A Salem couple are feeling good about their rescue of a Linn County woman who was caught by a sneaker wave at the Oregon coast.

Steve Renner and his girlfriend, Aurela Adams, were enjoying an outing on Siletz Beach last weekend with Adams’ mom and brothers when they noticed something in the water about a few hundred yards up the beach.

When they realized it was a body, they all ran toward it.

Renner, 31, got to the floundering woman first. He went out about 15 yards in the cold surf and found 72-year-old Beverly Greve of Foster face down in the water. Greve had been hunting for agate and shells when she was swept into the water by a sneaker wave, said Jim Kusz of North Lincoln Fire and Rescue’s water rescue team. It was estimated Greve was in the water two to four minutes.

Renner, a construction worker and former Marine, pulled Greve to safety. Adams, 27, used her nursing training to care for the woman until paramedics arrived. Greve began breathing on her own after getting to shore. She was treated by paramedics then taken to a local hospital where she was treated and released, Kusz said.

“There is no doubt that she would have drowned if not for them,” said Adams’ mom, Ingrid Allen, from her home in Ogden, Utah.

Kusz said Renner and Adams deserved to be commended for their actions, but he warned that many rescuers end up requiring a rescue themselves. “We try to advise people not to go in after people,” Kusz said. “But (Renner) did well.”