BELLINGHAM - To say thank you for saving his diabetic wife's life more than once, an elderly Bellingham man delivered 145 small turtles made from copper wire and beads to the Bellingham Fire Department this week.

Jack Richards - a legally blind, retired "rent-a-cop" (his words) - crafted the turtles out of 15,000 plastic beads and a sixth of a mile of copper wire. Everyone in the fire department got a turtle.

Richards, 74, spent an hour on each.

If you do the math, that's almost six-and-a-half days of nonstop work.

Why turtles?

"Why not?" Richards replied.

Once or twice each year, an ambulance gets called to the Richards' home, part of a four-plex on McKenzie Avenue. Jack's wife of 34 years suffers from a few medical problems and sometimes falls from her wheelchair.

After EMTs helped her with some extreme pain problems earlier this fall, Richards decided he wanted to say thank you, in any way he could.

"If they weren't here, my wife would have died years ago," he said. "I figure they're worth it."

Reach CALEB HUTTON at caleb.hutton@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2276.