Tennessee woman marries man who rescued her from deadly flood

WAVERLY, Tenn. — In a city stuffed with unhappiness, individuals smile after they hear what occurred to Tracy Nagy.

“I will be strolling downtown, and other people will give me hugs,” she mentioned.

On Aug. 21, 2021, the day 20 individuals died within the flood that has outlined the Tennessee city ever since, a person the 56-year-old Nagy barely knew saved her from being swept away from her dwelling.

On that Saturday morning, Chris Etheridge, 52, reached into the raging floodwater and pulled out a fairytale.

“It is like a film,” she mentioned.

It is higher than a film as a result of it actually occurred.

Earlier than the flood, two completely different lives

She was as soon as a college trainer.

A few a long time in the past, Miss Tracy, which is what the scholars referred to as her, taught second grade. One of many kids in her class was the daughter of Chris Etheridge.

Etheridge, across the similar time, was the Little League coach of Tracy Nagy’s son.

In a small city like Waverly, inhabitants 4,000, tiny connections like that occur on a regular basis. Nagy and Etheridge knew one another, however she lived in Waverly and he lived in New Johnsonville, a couple of miles away.

She had studied languages and had a number of levels from Austin Peay State College. He labored in a cardboard field manufacturing unit, with a specialty in machines.

Over time, they’d despatched a couple of Fb messages to one another. A few instances, they’d exchanged textual content messages.

However in current instances, their lives had gotten difficult. Each had been divorced. Nagy began a brand new job as an accounts payable specialist.

Nagy and Etheridge hadn’t talked, exchanged messages, or seen one another in additional than 5 years.

Because the floodwaters threatened that morning, Chris Etheridge was making an attempt to assist one other resident close by.

By 8 a.m., a 6-foot wall of water was hurtling towards downtown Waverly.

It slammed into Tracy Nagy’s home first.

Etheridge rushed to maneuver a ship and a few autos for his pal Sean Buchanan. That is when he realized he knew the girl who lived throughout the road: Tracy Nagy.

Her quantity was nonetheless in his cellphone. His name woke her from a useless sleep.

“I am at your door,” he mentioned.

“Why?” she replied, with no thought the explanation her grownup son’s Little League coach can be on her porch at 8 a.m.

“Have you ever seemed exterior?” he mentioned. “You have to get out.”

She went to the door within the T-shirt and shorts she had slept in. She was barefoot.

Nagy grabbed her canine Thelma and hustled into Etheridge’s truck.

She may hear individuals on her road screaming for assist.

That is when the primary wave hit. The truck was lifted off the bottom. Nagy, together with her canine, jumped out of the truck as a result of she did not wish to be swept away.

Nagy had been a aggressive swimmer and a junior lifeguard in her youth. However this water was too indignant.

She thought she would land on her driveway, however the water was greater than six ft deep. She could not really feel the bottom.

Her head went below the water. She was on the mercy of the present.

She thought she was going to die.

Then, all of the sudden…

“He grabbed me by the arm,” she mentioned.

The world stopped and he or she felt protected. He held her tight. “It was a reassuring feeling,” she mentioned.

The water lurched ahead, and Nagy discovered herself standing waist-deep subsequent to the person who saved her life.

After which he did one thing legendary.

Etheridge put his arm round Nagy and kissed her brow.

He simply wished to let her know she was protected.

What simply occurred?

Etheridge helped Nagy and Thelma into the next-door neighbor’s dwelling, which occurred to be her mother and father, Gene and Jo Trotter.

They climbed on furnishings to remain above the waterline. When it seemed like they had been going to be okay, Etheridge mentioned he was leaving to go assist different individuals.

Nagy was left with the query: What simply occurred?

A person she barely knew had saved her and kissed her.

After which he was gone.

Like a superhero.

Three days later, Nagy had a physician’s appointment however no approach to get there.

She texted Chris Etheridge asking for a journey.

“He mentioned he wished to assist,” she mentioned. “However he additionally mentioned, ‘What I actually wish to do is hang around with you.’”

She was on the fence. Hang around? What did that imply? 

So she requested him.

He mentioned he wished to take her to dinner and a film. Sept. 3 was their first date, two weeks after the flood. That they had Mexican meals and noticed “Free Man” in Dickson.

She started to try Etheridge otherwise. “He is a very nice man, and actually shy,” she mentioned. He instructed her he had wished to speak together with her for years, however he was too nervous.

“You already know what he did?” she mentioned. “In that flood, he confirmed full disregard for himself.”

As all heroes do.

On Dec. 18, Nagy was watching a homicide thriller on Dateline NBC when Etheridge grabbed the distant management.

He was making an attempt to show off the TV, however he could not get the distant to work.

“I turned off the TV,” she mentioned. “Subsequent factor I knew he was on a knee.”

He mentioned he had recognized her as a trainer and a mom, and that he had all the time cherished her.

“I knew after I kissed you within the flood, we’d be collectively without end,” he mentioned.

He requested her to marry him, and he or she mentioned sure.

On 2-2-22, they had been married within the Humphreys County Courthouse.

He wore an untucked shirt, and he or she went with a blush, woven pullover.

They went to Gatlinburg for his or her honeymoon.

“He is only a good ol’ nation boy,” she mentioned.

Attain Keith Sharon on Twitter @KeithSharonTN.