By Meg Peters
Review Co-Editor
A hometown hero close to the heart of many in a past time in Lake Orion passed away Valentine’s Day after an illness he kept a secret took his life.?
Riley Polan, a 1956 graduate of Lake Orion High School, was better known for his selfless acts of courage serving in the U.S. Coast Guard. He was 76 when he passed.
His first save occurred just after Polan joined the coast guard at the age of 18 when he rescued a drowning resident from the bitter cold St. Mary’s River in Sault Ste. Marie.
An article from the Lake Orion Review confirms ‘letters, telegrams pour in on [his] parents in Lake Orion, ? dated April 11, 1957.
According to a compilation of accounts in several newspaper articles, Polan jumped from the rail of the Coast Guard’s buoy tender ‘Tamarack,? swam 25 yards and dragged the unconscious Soo resident George L. Johnson, 36, back to safety.
Johnson’s car had run off the end of the International Ferry dock near?1 a.m.’that morning and Polan fought through icy waters to save him.
According to the Lake Orion Review, ‘Polan’s shipmates said afterward that the young seaman was shivering so violently that he could not hold a cup of coffee.?
Over the following days, Polan’s parents Mr. and Mrs. George Polan of 90 Elizabeth St. received armloads of letters and telegrams expressing sincere gratitude and awe for the heroic save.
At the age of 30 Polan was named the new Coast Guard chief in Sandusky, Ohio after serving 12 years for the Coast Guard. He was responsible for maintaining buoys and navigation range lights, saving lives and property.
Prior to his Sandusky excursion, Polan was on a patrol boat ‘preventing infiltration by sea? near Cat Lo, South Viet Nam.
His niece, former Lake Orion resident Jorga Delgado, recalls a fond memory of both her Uncle Riley and his brother Darrel.
‘They were in Viet Nam at the same time, and of course Riley was on the ship. There was a helicopter going overhead and my uncle Darrel was in the helicopter, so they got to talk to each other while they were in ‘Nam. I mean, what’s the odds of that??? she said.
According to Delgado, Polan served in Michigan and the state of Washington before serving in Vietnam.
His next save occurred in 1974, according to past articles.
The former Lake Orion resident directed the rescue operation of 29 crew members from a 640-foot sinking ship in the St. Lawrence Seaway, a linking of 24 ports within Canada and Michigan which connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.
The freighter ship, Roy A. Jodrey, went down just after 3 a.m. Nov. 21, 1974, off the shore of the Wesseley Island Coast Guard Station. The ship had hit a rock ledge and went down bow first, nevertheless, all 29 crew members were rescued without injury.
For over 20 years Polan served in the Coast Guard, stationed in the Soo, Cheboygan, Washington state, Vietnam and then Alexandria Bay of Jefferson County, New York, Delgado said.
‘We were close until I was probably 10 or 11, then we moved away, and they moved all over and then we didn’t see much of him,? Delgado mused.
According to Delgado, Polan married his Lake Orion sweetheart, Patricia Schults, and had three kids. The Polans lived in Pensacola, Fl., after he retired from the Coast Guard, and Patricia Schults passed away three years ago in her sleep. They are survived by their three children, and six grandchildren.
Delgado said he didn’t let anyone know he was sick.
‘I saw him a few years ago at a family reunion and he said how he took his grandson out on the water and they could see the alligators looking at them. He loved his grandkids. He took them to all their sports, he hustled right in there.?
Delgado said when it came to the Coast Guard, he was a lifer.
After he was named the Coast Guard’s newest chief in Sandusky, Polan recounted that there are no specific unusual or exciting incidents from his career?’there are so many it would be impossible.?
‘Nobody knows they’ll make a career of it at first. You have to see how you like it after you’re in. Everyone has personal reasons for making it a career. You travel all over the country, and have all types of experiences,? he said in 1974.
Polan lived with his parents at 90 Elizabeth St. until he left for the Coast Guard at 18. Delgado’s great-grandfather built her great-grandmother that house, and lived nearby at 128 Elizabeth St, which was in her family for almost 90 years before it was sold.
Delgado attended Blanche Sims Elementary until her mother and her moved when she was in the fifth grade.
‘I was so happy when they showed up at the house because I missed him so much,? she said of her Uncle Riley. ‘There aren’t any specific things, just him being there.???