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Hero holds Janesville dear

Kermit Kubitz went to California at age 18 but never forgot Janesville.

"I think of Janesville as kind of an idyllic place," the semi-retired lawyer said in a telephone interview.

It's a good place to raise your children, he has heard from young people who live here.

Kubitz also never forgot something he learned growing up in Janesville—that we're all part of one community.

Perhaps that's why he didn't hesitate when he saw a man stabbing a 15-year-old girl in May 2007 at a bakery near his San Francisco home. He grabbed the man, saving the girl's life and endangering his own.

The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission awarded Kubitz its Carnegie Medal in December.

The medal goes to those who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while trying to save the lives of others.

Kubitz, now 62, was salutatorian of his graduating class at Janesville High School and was a member of a state-champion debate team.

He went to Cal Tech to study astronomy, inspired by President John F. Kennedy's call to reach the moon.

Kubitz still owns Kennedy's signature, one of his most prized possessions. He got it when Kennedy visited the General Motors plant while campaigning in 1960.

He also remembers sitting in class at the old Marshall Middle School, listening to the broadcast when Alan Shepard became the first American to reach outer space. And when Kennedy was assassinated.

"It was a changing time," although not overly political in Janesville, he recalled. "The most important thing was whether we were going to beat Beloit in basketball on Friday night."

After four years at Cal Tech, he found a different calling. He was ready to enter law school. But then he was drafted.

The Army offered to make him a computer operator. The year was 1968. The Vietnam War was raging.

The computer job would have kept him safe. But it didn't feel right. He asked to be a combat engineer.

"I think there was a sense of duty in those days," he said.

They made him a radio operator in the infantry. He didn't want to talk about his combat missions and medals. But when asked why he jumped to the girl's assistance, he said:

"I think it was just instinct. Kind of like my tendency, that nobody in my platoon is going to get attacked without me doing something, and I guess that means anyone within my sight."

Kubitz didn't want people to think that only someone who was in the infantry could do what he did. He noted that others jumped in to save the girl that day.

"If you saw blood spatter everywhere and a guy attacking, if it were my daughter, you'd do it for me. You'd do it in an instant. And I'd do it for you."

Kubitz eventually graduated from Harvard Law School and worked for many years for Pacific Gas & Electric.

But he maintained friendships in Janesville, and has funded a $500 scholarship for Craig High School graduates. It's named after his first wife, the late Nona Matthews Kubitz, also Class of 1964.

He also maintains Wisconsin ties through his older sisters, Judith and Katchen, who live in Kohler. A niece works in Sen. Russ Feingold's office.

Kubitz, obviously humble about his deed, said the only reason he agreed to this interview was that it might encourage others to do the right thing.

That same ideal of community service prompted an unsolicited comment: He hoped that the new president would take a page from Kennedy's book, encouraging young people to serve their country in exchange for college funding.