TAUNTON, MASS. (WHDH) - Governor Charlie Baker, along with other local lawmakers, honored a hero one year after a stabbing spree at a Taunton mall.
The wife of George Heath accepted the Carnegie Medal for her husband. He died protecting a pregnant woman who was targeted inside a restaurant.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been one year, one year when we just went out to go to dinner and a movie and our lives changed,” said Rosemary Heath, George Heath’s wife.
Rosemary Heath looked back on the night that her husband died trying to protect others during a stabbing rampage. She tearfully accepted the Carnegie Medal of Heroism on behalf of her husband.
“I miss my husband standing behind me as I was at the stove cooking dinner,” said Rosemary Heath. “…He would say, ‘honey it smells so good. What are you making?’”
The couple was out for dinner and movie when a man went into a restaurant at the Silver City Galleria and started swinging a knife.
George Heath died trying to protect a pregnancy waitress.
Gov. Charlie Baker presented Rosemary Heath with the award honoring her late husband on Wednesday.
“And in that moment, that split second, George did something that truly stands above the rest, he put himself between a man with a knife and pregnant woman,” said Gov. Baker.
The ceremony was held at the Heath family home, in the same place where Rosemary Heath and George Heath were married.
“When you look at life and realize how short it is, you take a look and understand you may not have a tomorrow,” said Rosemary Heath.
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