IOWA CITY - Three people pulled from the Iowa River in Iowa City are doing surprisingly well. A family member of 33-year-old Michelle Kehoe and her two sons, six-year-old Sean and one-year-old Seth -- all of Coralville -- says they're just grateful for their brave rescuers.

Friday, Kehoe became distracted by her sons and lost control of her car along Dubuque Street near the Park Road Bridge. The car drove into the Iowa River, but luckily four passersby were able to pull the family to safety.

By now, one of those rescuers, University of Iowa art professor Steve McGuire can safely say he's more than familiar with the Iowa River. The view of the river from his office window is a daily reminder about the plunge he's taken three times to save a life.

McGuire says, "You know what the temperature is. You know the water has to be just above freezing. You know the likelihood of somebody surviving being in that car."

Riding his bike Friday near the bridge, he noticed the top of Kehoe's car bobbing in the freezing water. Quickly gauging whether he could rescue the woman and make it back to shore before becoming hypothermic, he dove in.

He says, "The thing that really scared me was the first things she said: 'Where are my babies?' and I thought, 'Oh, my God. The children are still in the car.'"

Three other passersby had already rescued Kehoe's two children before the car sank to the bottom of the river. For McGuire though, this rescue made him a hero three times over.

In the flood of 1993, a student fell into the Iowa River. McGuire fought the current to bring that man to safety.

He told TV9 then, "If he wouldn't have been holding the branches he would have been underneath and gone."

Then a decade later, he pulled a man and his boat to shore before the vessel sank into the same river.

In 2003, he told TV9, "I saw him in the water and realized he was stuck to his board and his boat was going down. So I jumped in the water and made it out there."

Still, McGuire doesn't consider himself a hero. He says anyone presented with the same coincidence would jump into the water -- all three times.

"I'm more thrilled that she and her children are safe. Honestly, that is the biggest reward."
The Kehoes are now at home in Coralville after receiving treatment for exposure to the elements at University Hospitals. McGuire and the other rescuers declined medical treatment. But he tells TV9 a hot shower was definitely in the forecast when he got home.

Email Josh Hinkle at Josh.Hinkle@kcrg.com