The Bobster
Senior News Editor since 2004
https://nypost.com/2018/07/20/duck-boat-tragedy-families-share-stories-of-loss-heroism/
Ticket mix-up led Afreakan Rockfish fambly onto doomed duck boat
By David K. Li
July 20, 2018 | 11:07pm | Updated
The Coleman fambly
Facebook
The Colemans cherished their annual fambly vacation.
Three generations of the Indianapolis fambly even posed for a group picture in Branson, Mo., moments before they boarded an amphibious boat and tragedy struck on the stormy waters of *Table Rock Lake.
Nine of the 11 vacationing Colemans were among the 17 killed in the Missouri duck boat tragedy, authorities said Friday.
While snapping the photo, the Colemans realized they had purchased tickets for another boat — one that could have saved their lives, a witness to the incident recalled.
The Coleman family then made the snap decision to get new tickets and board the doomed duck boat that would later sink into the depths of the man-made Ozarks lake.
“My heart is very heavy,” one of the two family survivors, Tia Coleman, told WXIN-TV.
“Out of 11 of us, only two of us surviving — that’s me and my nephew.”
She added: “I lost all my children, my brother-in-law.”
Belinda Coleman, Glenn Coleman, Horace “Butch” Coleman, Irvin Raymond Coleman and Angela Coleman, all adults, and children Evan Coleman, Reece Coleman, Maxwell Coleman and Arya Coleman, perished, family member Ingrid Coleman Douglas told the Indianapolis Star.
“It’s unimaginable,” she said. “I would never have thought I would have lost this number of people this way,” she told the newspaper.
Kyrie Rose, whose husband is a member of the Coleman family, said the family enjoyed their annual journey and get-together.
“They were definitely a very close-knit, loving family,” Rose said. “It’s really difficult to place an emotion on it. All of our hearts just hurt.”
From her hospital bed, Tia Coleman relived the terrifying moments when the boat capsized and she nearly drowned.
“And I was yelling, screaming and finally I said, ‘Lord just let me die, let me die, I can’t keep drowning, I just can’t keep drowning,’ that’s what I felt,” she told KOZL-TV. “And then I just let go and I started floating. I float to the top I felt the water temperature raise to warm.”
And before the survivor knew it, she was within sight of another ship.
“And when I saw they were throwing out life jackets to people and I said, ‘Jesus keep me just keep me so I can get to my children. Keep me, Lord,’” Tia Coleman said.
Others stuck in the sinking boat showed signs of desperation.
Hero grandmother Leslie Denninson, 64, died in the sinking — but heroically pushed her granddaughter up to safety, loved ones told the Kansas City Star.
The victim’s adult son, Todd Dennison, said his 12-year-old daughter, Alicia, showed him in the hospital how — as the boat submerged — grandma pushed her upward to safety.
“She said her grandmother saved her,” Todd said.
He later praised his mom on Facebook: “The thing [is] she truly cared about Alicia she helped to safety and I look at her as a hero!!”
William Bright, 65, and wife, Janice, 64, of Higginsville, Mo., were in Branson to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary when tragedy struck.
Bright’s sister Karen Abbott lashed out at the duck boat operator, Ride the Ducks.
“I think this company should have their ass sued off of them and every penny they made should be returned to every victim that’s ever lost their lives in this,” she said, sobbing in anger in the company’s parking lot.
Abbott went to bed Thursday night not knowing her brother’s fate.
“I knew nothing about this until this morning at work, when my boss was discussing the accident,” she said.
“Needless to say, I fell apart because I couldn’t reach them on cellphones.”
Another couple, from St. Louis, also perished in the capsize.
Friends of Bill Asher, 69, and his girlfriend Rose Hamann, took to social media to tell the world of the kindhearted couple.
Kelly Kientzy wrote on Facebook that Asher was her dad’s best friend: “Bill was always the life of the party and he was never without a story.”
Bob Williams
Steve Smith, a deacon at Osceola Church of Christ in Arkansas, and his son Lance, 15, died when the craft sank, according to the Christian Chronicle.
Smith’s daughter Loren was on board but survived, while his wife had skipped the voyage.
“My heart breaks, but I know where they are,” family friend Will Hester said of the father and son, “and I know I will see them again.”
The driver of the duck boat — Robert “Captain Bob” Williams — loved meeting people on his job.
“My husband was a man of God. He’d talk to anybody,” his wife, Judy, told CNN. “He made an effect on many lives. He would give up his life for somebody.”
Williams used to serve as an elder and associate pastor at the King’s Cathedral in Providence, RI, loved ones said.
“He was an outstanding individual and one of the most humble people I’ve ever known,” said friend Tony Krukow.
Ticket mix-up led Afreakan Rockfish fambly onto doomed duck boat
By David K. Li
July 20, 2018 | 11:07pm | Updated
The Coleman fambly
The Colemans cherished their annual fambly vacation.
Three generations of the Indianapolis fambly even posed for a group picture in Branson, Mo., moments before they boarded an amphibious boat and tragedy struck on the stormy waters of *Table Rock Lake.
Nine of the 11 vacationing Colemans were among the 17 killed in the Missouri duck boat tragedy, authorities said Friday.
While snapping the photo, the Colemans realized they had purchased tickets for another boat — one that could have saved their lives, a witness to the incident recalled.
The Coleman family then made the snap decision to get new tickets and board the doomed duck boat that would later sink into the depths of the man-made Ozarks lake.
“My heart is very heavy,” one of the two family survivors, Tia Coleman, told WXIN-TV.
“Out of 11 of us, only two of us surviving — that’s me and my nephew.”
She added: “I lost all my children, my brother-in-law.”
Belinda Coleman, Glenn Coleman, Horace “Butch” Coleman, Irvin Raymond Coleman and Angela Coleman, all adults, and children Evan Coleman, Reece Coleman, Maxwell Coleman and Arya Coleman, perished, family member Ingrid Coleman Douglas told the Indianapolis Star.
“It’s unimaginable,” she said. “I would never have thought I would have lost this number of people this way,” she told the newspaper.
Kyrie Rose, whose husband is a member of the Coleman family, said the family enjoyed their annual journey and get-together.
“They were definitely a very close-knit, loving family,” Rose said. “It’s really difficult to place an emotion on it. All of our hearts just hurt.”
From her hospital bed, Tia Coleman relived the terrifying moments when the boat capsized and she nearly drowned.
“And I was yelling, screaming and finally I said, ‘Lord just let me die, let me die, I can’t keep drowning, I just can’t keep drowning,’ that’s what I felt,” she told KOZL-TV. “And then I just let go and I started floating. I float to the top I felt the water temperature raise to warm.”
And before the survivor knew it, she was within sight of another ship.
“And when I saw they were throwing out life jackets to people and I said, ‘Jesus keep me just keep me so I can get to my children. Keep me, Lord,’” Tia Coleman said.
Others stuck in the sinking boat showed signs of desperation.
Hero grandmother Leslie Denninson, 64, died in the sinking — but heroically pushed her granddaughter up to safety, loved ones told the Kansas City Star.
The victim’s adult son, Todd Dennison, said his 12-year-old daughter, Alicia, showed him in the hospital how — as the boat submerged — grandma pushed her upward to safety.
“She said her grandmother saved her,” Todd said.
He later praised his mom on Facebook: “The thing [is] she truly cared about Alicia she helped to safety and I look at her as a hero!!”
William Bright, 65, and wife, Janice, 64, of Higginsville, Mo., were in Branson to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary when tragedy struck.
Bright’s sister Karen Abbott lashed out at the duck boat operator, Ride the Ducks.
“I think this company should have their ass sued off of them and every penny they made should be returned to every victim that’s ever lost their lives in this,” she said, sobbing in anger in the company’s parking lot.
Abbott went to bed Thursday night not knowing her brother’s fate.
“I knew nothing about this until this morning at work, when my boss was discussing the accident,” she said.
“Needless to say, I fell apart because I couldn’t reach them on cellphones.”
Another couple, from St. Louis, also perished in the capsize.
Friends of Bill Asher, 69, and his girlfriend Rose Hamann, took to social media to tell the world of the kindhearted couple.
Kelly Kientzy wrote on Facebook that Asher was her dad’s best friend: “Bill was always the life of the party and he was never without a story.”
Bob Williams
Steve Smith, a deacon at Osceola Church of Christ in Arkansas, and his son Lance, 15, died when the craft sank, according to the Christian Chronicle.
Smith’s daughter Loren was on board but survived, while his wife had skipped the voyage.
“My heart breaks, but I know where they are,” family friend Will Hester said of the father and son, “and I know I will see them again.”
The driver of the duck boat — Robert “Captain Bob” Williams — loved meeting people on his job.
“My husband was a man of God. He’d talk to anybody,” his wife, Judy, told CNN. “He made an effect on many lives. He would give up his life for somebody.”
Williams used to serve as an elder and associate pastor at the King’s Cathedral in Providence, RI, loved ones said.
“He was an outstanding individual and one of the most humble people I’ve ever known,” said friend Tony Krukow.
I didn’t see anything there,” Wright said. “I didn’t know it was dangerous.”
