Offi cer honored for saving life
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
The fi rst time Keizer Police
Department Offi cer Andrew
Phelps met the Clason family,
it was not a good situation.
Tammy Clason had called
9-1-1 on March 1 because her
husband, 60-year-old Glen
Clason, wasn’t breathing.
Phelps was the fi rst re-
sponder to the call and ad-
ministered CPR until medics
from the Keizer Fire District
arrived.
Eight days later Phelps met
the family again at their home
– this time after Glen was
healthy and discharged from
the hospital.
“He asked if we were open
to him coming over to the
house and checking on him,”
Tammy recalled Monday. “I
said, ‘Please do. I need to give
you a great big hug. I’ve been
wanting to give you a big hug
for eight days.’ I was willing to
hunt him down if he didn’t
call me fi rst. I couldn’t wait to
give him a hug.”
Phelps was honored by
police chief John Teague at
Monday night’s Keizer City
Council meeting. His family
as well as fellow offi cers were
on hand as Phelps was given
a lifesaving ribbon. Fire chief
Jeff Cowan with the Keizer
Fire District was also present
to offer his congratulations.
Glen Clason enjoyed Mon-
day’s interaction with the man
who saved his life.
“I told him, you can say
thank you to a waitress, so say-
ing thank you to him is not
even close to enough,” Glen
said. “It’s way more than I
even have words for.”
Phelps was honored and
humbled by the award and
for a chance to interact once
again with the Clasons.
“It feels fantastic,” Phelps
said. “We try to help people
every day. There are rare op-
portunities when the timing
is right and you can be there
to help somebody when they
need you the most. That’s
what happened that day.”
Glen doesn’t remember
much about March 1 or the
week after that.
“The only thing I remem-
ber is my heart was racing,
which it has since I was a
kid,” Glen said. “(Tammy) got
me aspirin and had me sit in
a chair. I turned around and
fell over. I sat in my computer
chair and apparently I fell face
forward on my desk. She did
everything until (Phelps) got
there.”
Tammy had noticed Glen
was holding his hand on his
heart.
“I asked him what’s going
on and he said, ‘My heart is
racing,’” Tammy said. “I told
him to sit down and here’s
two baby aspirin. At that mo-
ment, he went face fi rst on
his computer desk and start-
ed sliding across. I thought it
sounded like he was snoring,
but I found out later it was
the sound of all the oxygen
leaving his body. I was hold-
ing him and reaching for the
phone. 9-1-1 was amazing.
They were telling me to get
him on the fl oor.
“Just at that moment offi -
cer Phelps burst through that
front door,” she added. “He
just took over. It was abso-
lutely amazing. Glen would
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JUNE 19, 2015, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
obituaries
Submit an obituary through our website at keizertimes.com
or send an email to: editor@keizertimes.com
David Alan Turner
Dec. 6, 1979 – June 8, 2015
Dave Turner passed away at
his home in Keizer at the age
of 35.
Dave grew up in Tillamook
on a dairy farm where his love
for dirt bikes started at age 3.
He went on to compete in
freestyle motocross at the age
of 19, traveling around the U.S.
and inventing a trick called the
Turn Table.
In 2001 Dave had a bad
crash, having his left leg ampu-
tated below the knee. He went
on to compete at X Games in
2010 in the adaptive class, again
in 2013. He also competed in
Adaptive SnoCross in 2011 and
2013, winning a bronze medal.
After that Dave and his wife
Tabitha purchased a house in
Keizer in 2013. In 2014 Dave
started Turner Transport LLC,
hauling cars and trailers. Dave
was looking forward to the ar-
rival of his son Tred Turner in
August.
He was preceded in death
by his paternal and maternal
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Top: Offi cer Andrew Phelps and Glen Clason share a laugh
at Monday’s Keizer City Council meeting, where Phelps was
honored for saving Clason’s life. Above: Tammy and Glen
Clason pose with Andrew Phelps, standing next to wife Lauren
while holding daughter Alexia, 2, and son Ryder, 4.
not be here if not for (Phelps
doing CPR). The medics are
obviously our heroes too, but
he would not have survived if
not for offi cer Phelps.”
Once Phelps entered the
house, instincts kicked in.
“I’m a former lifeguard
so I’ve been through a lot of
training,” he said. “You see the
signs of symptoms you recog-
nize, so you fall back on your
training and react.”
Phelps called the hospi-
tal several times to check on
Glen’s condition, then met
him after the discharge.
“It was fantastic to see
him,” Phelps said. “It was
emotional for him. We devel-
oped a bond.”
Tammy recalled a thought
going through her mind over
and over as Phelps adminis-
tered CPR to her husband.
“Because of offi cer Phelps,
we got to celebrate our 33rd
wedding anniversary the next
month,” Tammy said. “It was
one of my nightmares when
I watched him laying on that
fl oor. I kept telling him, ‘Next
month is our 33rd anniversary
and I can’t celebrate it alone.’
Thanks to Andrew, or offi cer
Phelps, I didn’t have to do it
alone.”
While he got the ribbon,
Phelps shared the credit with
medics.
“There was a lot of great
support,” he said. “Everything
we do is to respond to help
people. We all come together
as a team and do the best job
we can.”
grandparents Dale and Helen
Turner, Harold and Hazel
Clark. Surviving David are his
wife Tabitha Turner, unborn
son Tred, daughter Brynn,
mother Eileen
Clark, father
Jack
Turner,
stepmother
Gayle Turner,
sisters Bille Lea
(Mike) Guth-
rie, Danielle
Turner
(Lee)
Bing-
man, Nieces
Katelin, Rachel, Brooke, Madi-
son, Chloe and Sophia, Neph-
ews Cayden and Weston, and
numerous friends.
Services will be held at Al-
bany Motocross Track, 33648
Berry Drive NE in Albany on
June 22 at 1 p.m.
In lieu of fl owers, do-
nations would be appreci-
ated
at
http://www.go-
fundme.com/wa2yhns.
Arrangements are by Keizer
Funeral Chapel.
Douglas Michael Johnson
Dec. 11, 1952 – May 25, 2015
Douglas Michael Johnson
of Keizer passed away at home
on May 25 at the age of 62.
Doug was born in The
Dalles on Dec. 11, 1952 and
lived part of his life in Or-
egon and part in Washington.
He attended school in Salem
and graduated from McNary
High School in 1971. Doug
attended college from 1976
to 1980 at Oregon College of
Education and graduated from
Willamette University with a
degree in economics in 1980.
After high school gradua-
tion, Doug married Patricia
Williams in Reno, Nev. before
joining the U.S. Navy.
Doug served on the USS
Constellation from 1971 to
1973 and after the USS Con-
stellation was decommis-
sioned in 1973 he served on
the USS Ticonderoga from
1973 to 1975.
Doug was part of the
Navy Intelligence from 1973
to 1975 and was part of sev-
eral missions in Vietnam. He
also served on the Apollo 16
Moon mission capsule re-
cover team while on the USS
Ticonderoga. After complet-
ing his time in the U.S. Navy
in 1975, Doug worked as a
lobbyist for Puget Power in
Olympia, Wash.
Doug enjoyed hunting,
golfi ng, weight training and
reading in his free time.
Doug is survived by his son,
Robert Johnson of Snoqualm-
ie, Wash. and by his brother
Craig Johnson of Maple Valley,
Wash. as well as two nephews.
Interment will be at Willa-
mette National Cemetery.