A monthly retreat out west tragically has tragically ended the life of a teenager. Sixteen year old David Derrick Gordon knew how to swim and the last thing his family expected to hear was that he drowned. But that’s exactly what happened on Saturday afternoon. According to David Gordon Sr. around ten that morning two of his sons went on the trip organized by a church group known as “Step of Faith.“ The youth group planned to have a fun filled outing at the Macal River. But three and a half hours after the Gordon boys left home the father received word that one of his sons had died. According to Gordon Sr, the group tried their best to save his son, but he could not hold on any longer and slipped from their hands and went under several times.
David Gordon Jr., Father
“He was with the whole group, it was like a whole church group with
a lot of kids and they were like going out playing catch and well the next guy that was with him says that they were standing on a rock and the current was strong and the current pulled him off and when it pulled him off it looks like they had a hole or something and he got stuck like from his waist down and they were trying to pull him up and by the time they got more help, he had already drowned. They did CPR on him for 15 minutes and it didn’t help.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Did they find his body quickly after it went under?
David Gordon Jr.,
“Yes they found the body because they had the guy holding him by the arm trying to get him out. Two guys were there trying to take him out and then they got more help and that’s when they took him out. That is when he was already dead.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
So as his friends were trying to help him out of the water he kept going under?
David Gordon Jr.,
“Yes I think so. The guy said when they were conscious he was stuck, because they were pulling on him and he couldn’t come out.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
And how is your younger son dealing with this because he was along with his older brother when it happened?
David Gordon Jr.,
“He is trying to hold on. He cried like all of his cried, he feels it, it is so sad because of the way it happened because he was a good swimmer until now that he drowned because I like to fish and we used to go to river and fish. We were always swimming in the river, have fun, and to know that he drowned it was sad for us because we know he was a good swimmer.”
Sixteen year old David Derrick Gordon Jr. who was a member of the church youth group drama team will be laid to rest on Wednesday following funeral service in Blackman Eddy Village.
