Shared loss brings WWII vet, teen together for life lessons

At first glance, they seem an unlikely pair.

One a war veteran, 84, with enough stories to fill a library. The other, a tech-obsessed teen who could crush you at pingpong in five minutes flat.

Will Guyman, 16, will be the first to say it: He wasn't sure what to expect when he met Dick Cooley last spring, much less could he have predicted a friendship would sprout between them.

Sure, he'd heard about the older man from his parents' friends. Cooley was CEO of Seafirst Bank in the 1980s. His plane went down 63 years ago during World War II. And he's lived without his right arm ever since.

Will had met other amputees at Harborview Medical Center after his freak boating accident last year. But no one who'd lost an arm, as Will had. How would he type? Play football? Meet girls?

So Will's parents asked: Do you want to talk with Mr. Cooley?

Experienced advice

On a recent Wednesday evening, Cooley sits inside the Guymans' Medina home. He's been here before to chat with Will, and each time they meet, he senses the teen growing more at ease. Cooley remembers the first time he came over. Will was looking at him, sizing him up, unsure what to think.

So Cooley told him this: I don't want to intrude. Just think of me as a resource; ask me whatever you want.

"He doesn't need my help," says Cooley, of Seattle. "But there may be some things I can show him that will make his life easier."

Tonight, he's about to demonstrate a rite of passage for any young man: how to tie a necktie.

Cooley thinks in systems. All amputees have them, he says. Putting on your pants, turning a steering wheel, even toweling off after a shower — all are carried out with a methodology.

Take, for instance, the necktie. This is muscle memory for Cooley, who wore ties on the job. He shows Will the first step: Position the tie so the wide end rests just above the belt. Loop it around the narrow piece, using your teeth to assist. Then push through the middle and pull. Cooley does this using a prosthesis he's had since 1946.

Will watches with interest. Cooley taught him how to tie his shoelaces last time. That was huge: He no longer had to rely on his mom or dad for that. When Cooley jokes about his ancient prosthesis, Will laughs. He knows he'll have an array of options when he decides to get fitted for one.

Funny, though, the similarities they share. Both lost their right arms above the elbow. Both still see themselves as right-handed.

Plane went down

Cooley's plane went down on a testing mission in Belgium on Dec. 11, 1944. He parachuted out at 20,000 feet and lay unconscious for three days. He was 21. A Yale undergraduate, Cooley eventually returned to school without his arm, crushed that he could no longer play on the football team. So he focused on other sports such as squash and golf, eventually earning recognition as one of the school's top athletes.

Cooley sees the loss of his arm as minor compared with the potential loss of his life.

"God decided I wasn't going to die," he says. "I feel grateful that I'm here. ... You always want to pay that back if you can."

Dinghy hit log

Nearly 62 years later — Aug. 10, 2006, the Guymans were vacationing in the warm waters of Desolation Sound Marine Provincial Park in British Columbia. Shortly after 8 p.m., Will and his father, Doug, decided to take their inflatable dinghy for a ride.

Doug was driving at roughly 30 miles an hour, with Will sitting near the bow. Thick clouds blanketed the sky. Suddenly, they hit a submerged log. Will flew out of the raft on impact, and despite his life jacket, sank several feet below the surface. Doug pulled the throttle to stop the boat and frantically waited for his son to emerge. The water turned crimson.

When Will surfaced, his right arm was missing. The propeller likely had cut it off. Doug fashioned a tourniquet from the stern line to stop the bleeding and raced back to the harbor, where his wife radioed for help. Friends searched for Will's arm, but were unable to find it. Doctors later said it would have sunk to the bottom.

Will also suffered a head gash, eight broken ribs, a fractured scapula and punctured lung. Currents of pain surged through his body, and he lost a third of his blood. Yet he never thought he would die, he said.

"There was this just overwhelming instinct that I needed to get through this and survive," Will says.

After a harrowing rescue by the Canadian Coast Guard, Will was airlifted to a hospital, then later taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He returned to Lakeside School in Seattle just three weeks after the ordeal.

Newfound empathy

Those first days back felt like stepping into a new life. Will couldn't take notes in class, play sports or do anything the way he used to. Frustration gnawed at him. He'd often burst into tears, he said.

Slowly, that changed. He learned to use voice-recognition technology to write papers. He took up skiing again — awkwardly at first, then with enough confidence to glide down the slopes with grace. And his friends cut him no slack on the basketball court, he says.

Will also developed a newfound empathy for others. He joined a blood-drive team at school, and recently he told his story in front of his classmates in hopes of getting them to donate. The generosity of others, he says, is what saved his life.

As Cooley listens to Will, a recurring thought runs through his mind: This young man will be fine. Cooley sensed that the first time he met Will, recognized the feisty inner strength that mirrored his own.

The sky darkens and rain pounds the windows; it's time for Cooley to go now. But one last bit of advice.

"Attitude is the whole thing," Cooley says. "It will be hard to row a boat, but you can learn to paddle a canoe."

Will smiles. "If I'm as capable as you, Mr. Cooley, I'll be plenty happy."

"You're like a flower," Cooley replies. "You're just beginning to bloom."

They shake hands, one left palm in the other, promising to meet again soon.

Sonia Krishnan: 206-515-5546 or skrishnan@seattletimes.com