Man who drowned in Fountain always did 'right thing'

A man who drowned after he fell into an ice-covered pond Saturday was remembered by his family as a good man who was willing to risk his life for a dog.

“That’s just the kind of man he was,” said Ruben Lovern, nephew of 45-year-old William Tuttle.

Tuttle was rescued after 90 minutes in the Willow Springs Ponds near Interstate 25 and Mesa Ridge Parkway, and pronounced dead at Memorial Hospital.

Fountain fire officials said that Tuttle chased his runaway dog onto the ice-covered pond Saturday morning and the ice broke. He was able to throw the dog onto the shore, but soon went under the water.

The pit bull was new to the family and Lovern said Tuttle was walking it before he planned to watch a football game. When the dog ran onto the ice, his actions to go after it were probably instinctive, he said.

“He just did what he thought was the right thing, all of the time,” Lovern said.  

Tuttle was from San Francisco, where he worked as a technician for Hewlett Packard. His then-future wife, Carolyn, worked for the company in Colorado Springs and they talked often, eventually falling in love.

“Will flew out to Colorado and married her,” Lovern said. After HP closed its doors in Colorado Springs, Tuttle found jobs in liquor stores, where his boisterous personality was appreciated by the customers, Lovern said.

He is survived by his two children, Megan and Taylor, who were his whole life, Lovern said. Tuttle constantly went to their games and performances and spent as much time with them as he could.

He said they have had a hard time dealing with the death, especially when reading mean-spirited comments by people on news websites that questioned why he went out on the ice.

“It’s hard for them to read those things,” Lovern said.

Several signs at the lakes, in an north of Fountain Creek Regional Park, warn people about the thin ice.

So far in 2012 the Fountain Fire Department has handled 25 calls of people venturing onto ice in the city, said fire chief Darin Anstine.

“It’s a big problem for us, just going and chasing people off,” Anstine said.  

Gazette reporter Jakob Rodgers contributed to this report.
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