‘He made the ultimate sacrifice’: Whitley Co. man loses life while saving children from drowning

When 37-year-old Matthew Strickland and his family made their way to the Ballard Ford East Road boat ramp for an afternoon of outdoor fun Sunday afternoon there is no way that he could’ve known he would soon be faced with an opportunity to save the lives of two children that he did not know. Yet, that is exactly what happened, and while he was successful in his heroic efforts to save them, he unfortunately ended up losing his own life in the process.