On a July day 55 years ago, seven-year-old Roger Woodward became part of Niagara Falls folklore when he survived being swept over the Horseshoe Falls.

On a day meant to celebrate his older sister's birthday, he instead made history.

Nowadays, Woodward speaks about that day a lot. Likely because he went decades barely speaking about it at all.

"My sister and I, for 34 years we never talked about it," says Woodward on the line from his home in Hunstville, Alabama. "And my sister and I are extremely close."

That's because this inspiring story which made headlines around the world was also a day of tragedy and incredible trauma. A boy lived, but a man died. Woodward's 17-year-old sister was barely rescued before she reached the edge.

Newspapers couldn't get enough of the only known survivor of an unaided trip over the falls. It proved too much for Woodward's parents. Even in the pre-internet age of 1960, the notoriety of that day followed them everywhere. After moving to Niagara Falls, N.Y. in 1960, they left two years later.

"My parents just wanted to get away," recalls Woodward, who speaks at the annual Niagara Falls Prayer Breakfast at Club Italia Oct. 2. "There was so much commotion and disruption to the family."

After they moved, they asked Roger and his sister Deanna not to discuss the incident or "anything about Niagara Falls." It wasn't until he was in high school, living in Lakeland, Fla., that a reporter tracked the family down and prompted Roger to share the story once again.

"The people I went to school with didn't know anything about it," he says. "We just never told people about it."

As the years passed, Woodward revisited the day he should have died. As he talks, he can virtually smell the Niagara River. Feel the mist. The sensation of being pulled under water then thrust up again as the tip of the Horseshoe Falls crept closer.

It was meant to be a day of celebration when family friend Rick Honeycutt offered to take young Roger for his first-ever boat ride. To mark his sister's 17th birthday, he wanted to take them on a tour of the area via the upper Niagara River. Woodward's mom had one condition: Roger was to wear a lifejacket, since he couldn't swim.

On the afternoon of July 9, 1960, the 12-foot aluminum boat set out down the river, approaching the Grand Island Bridge on the U.S. side. To local boaters, the bridge served as the unofficial cut-off point before you risked the falls' wrath.

Honeycutt briefly let Roger steer, and as the currents grew stronger the propellor hit a rock. The engine made an ugly sound and Honeycutt turned it off. But the boat had no anchor or rescue line, and it was now heading into the rapids.

Woodward recalls Honeycutt telling Deanne to put a lifejacket on. Then the real nightmare began.

Waves slammed the boat and filled it with water. Everyone was forced into the rapids and lost track of each other. Woodward recalls seeing people running along the shoreline on Goat Island, trying to reach his sister. It was like no one noticed him.

He recalls a moment of peace as he knew he was about to die. He thought of his parents. His dog. His toys. Then it was like he was floating in a cloud. He was enveloped in mist as he made the 167-foot drop into the lower river. As he hit the water everything went dark before his lifejacket brought him to the surface again. He had somehow survived something which had claimed countless lives.

A nearby Maid of the Mist boat raced to the scene, battling the choppy water to reel him in without running him over. On the third attempt, he latched onto an orange ring which pulled him aboard.

He didn't realize what had happened until he lay in a hospital bed hours later. Longtime Review photographer Ron Roels took a bedside shot of Woodward with Greater Niagara General Hospital nurse Eleanor Weaver. It's one of the most famous photos in the paper's history.

It was the same nurse who, years later, told Woodward it was "healthy" to talk about the incident when he returned to the area years later for a documentary.

"That made me realize it's okay," he says. "This is a part of my history. I don't claim anything from it, but I didn't do anything wrong. As a young child I just didn't understand, 'Why don't we talk about it?' I was told not to."

Once he finally spoke to his sister about it, some surprising new information hit Woodward. For one, the man who reached through a guard rail to grab Deanne missed on his first attempt. A desperate second attempt was only successful because she caught his thumb. Otherwise, she would have likely died.

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More than five decades later, only two other people have survived an unaided plunge over the Horseshoe Falls – Kirk Jones in 2003, and a still unidentified man in 2009. But Woodward isn't philosophical about that day, despite the astronomical odds against him.

"I'm not a person who puts any emphasis on luck or odds," he says. "The bible and spirit are my compass and guide in things that I do in life."

"Beating the odds? I know this goes against the grain with the casinos up there, but I really don't believe in luck. I believe that through faith and prayer, combined with inspiration and sweat, you can accomplish the things you want."

Coming back to the Falls is not a stressful thing for him, he adds. More than ever, he's "awestruck" by what surrounds him.

"I'm just amazed how much water and power there is," he says. "When you think about it, the volume of water that is flowing there is just incredible. I love the Great Lakes, they're just absolutely magnificent."

"When I talk to people or tell the story, I can almost spontaneously smell the water again."

john.law@sunmedia.ca

WHO: Roger Woodward

WHAT: Niagara Falls Prayer Breakfast

WHERE: Club Italia, 2525 Montrose Rd., Niagara Falls

WHEN: Oct. 2, 6 a.m.

TICKETS: $15 general, $8 students. 905-357-5555, ext. 247