Lake Monroe Claims Another Life...

[FloridaFishinFool]

https://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20181020/lake-monroe-boat-accident-survivor-reflects-on-50-year-friend-who-didnt-make-it

Lake Monroe boat accident survivor reflects on 50-year friend who didn't make it


By Patricio G. Balona

Posted Oct 20, 2018 at 12:51 PM
Updated Oct 20, 2018 at 6:09 PM
     
All alone in Lake Monroe and clinging to a capsized boat, Freddie Stills worried about alligators, consoling himself with the thought that the cold-blooded creatures probably wouldn't venture into the windy, choppy water — not on a rainy night.

Earlier in the day on Oct. 8, Stills and his fishing buddy got caught in rough lake conditions and their small boat started taking on water. After the men fell out, Earnest Jones — the friend Stills met 50 years ago in DeLand when the two returned from tours in the Vietnam War — drifted away.

Nothing could calm the 72-year-old Stills' fear that it was the last time he would see his longtime friend.

Stills hung on to the capsized boat for more than 20 hours until a Volusia County Sheriff's Office helicopter found him. Jones, 73, did not survive and his body was found floating in the lake shortly after Stills was rescued.

On Wednesday, Stills, after a short hospital stay, was emotional when he spoke of Jones, a dear friend who went by the nickname "Khrushchev."

"I did everything I thought I could do," Stills said. "I miss him. I really miss him, a lot."

Family and fishing

Earnest Jones loved to fish and he would have gone fishing everyday if he could, his daughter Arlevia Cherry said.

Throwing a line and hooking something for a meal was something he learned from his grandmother who raised Jones in DeLand in the 1940s and 50s.

But catching a fish was not all his grandmother passed on to a young Earnest Jones. He also loved to cook.

Born in Callahan, northwest of Jacksonville, Jones came to live with his grandmother in DeLand after his mother died when he was a boy, Cherry said. It isn't clear to his family where the nickname, "Khrushchev" came from, but he'd had it since his youth.

As a young man, Jones was drafted into the Army and served in Vietnam. On his return from the war, he worked as a concrete finisher. Jones later drove trucks for a living and set up his small restaurant on Adelle Avenue, his daughter said.

But to take a break from his busy life, which included raising two boys and two girls, Jones would go fishing or take his children to boat shows.

"He loved boats," Cherry said.

Cherry said her father would go fishing twice a week and as he aged, she encouraged him not to go alone.

On Oct. 9, Cherry said she went looking for her father after she was called and told he had not come back from fishing. She was told her father had gone fishing in Deltona.

"I immediately knew where he had gone," Cherry said. "We were coming back from dinner from Sanford one day and he pointed to the lake (Lake Monroe) and said that's where he fished."

At the lakeside, Cherry's hopes were raised when she was told her father had his life vest on.

"But then they told me he didn't have his life vest on. I knew they wouldn't find him alive," an emotional Cherry said.

Boat in trouble

Volusia deputies said Stills and Jones left around 10 a.m. Oct. 8 to go fishing on Lake Monroe, putting in at a dock on Enterprise Road. Jones acquired the boat a couple months before and wanted to try it out that day after getting it back from being repaired. He invited Stills to go along.

After a day of fishing, the water became very choppy, filling the back of the boat and sinking it.

Around 1 or 2 p.m., the waves of Lake Monroe started getting rough. The friends, who had caught four speckled perch, tried to head to shore.

"The motor wouldn't start right up," Stills recalled. "And it took on that water and it just went down."

That's when the struggle to survive began.

When the boat capsized, Earnest Jones either jumped or fell out. He had on his life jacket and Stills tried to throw a rope to his friend, he said.

"He was steady drifting away from me," Stills recounted. "I was holding onto the boat with one hand. I tried to throw him the rope but I am down in the water and I couldn't bring my arms up to try to throw it to him."

Stills said he told his buddy to swim, to dog paddle, but Earnest Jones said he couldn't because he was having a hard time breathing.

Then Stills lost sight of his friend and all he could hear were the waves beating against the submerged boat.

"He drifted away from me and went out of sight," an emotional Stills said, his voice breaking. "He told me to just stay with the boat, stay with the boat."

Stills hoped Jones would make it to shore and send help but at nightfall, he knew something was wrong.

Stills grabbed the end of a rope tied to the bow of the boat to make a swing and sat on it to relieve his arms of his body's weight. He waited. He shouted for help all night long but no one came.

"I made a swing and I sat on it so I could get the weight out of my arms," Stills said. "And I just rode it out from there."

"The waves were hitting the back of the boat and I was in front of the bow so it was not affecting me," Stills said. "Every now and then the boat would go under water completely and I'd go under with it and then pop back up."

Stills fought sleep although he would fall into a nod now and again.

Then, around noon the following day, he heard and saw the helicopter first, then he heard the familiar sound of a boat approaching, cutting through the waves.

Next was the sight of a deputy jumping in the water.

"Oh man that was a relief, that was a great weight off me," Stills recollected. "He dove in ... he jumped in the water and he gave me that flotation device and I held on to that."

On the shore, an ambulance, his wife and many friends were waiting for him.

"Then, the deputy that got me out (sheriff's Capt. Richard Fortin), the same one went back to retrieve his body also," Stills said, gazing.

Community's loss

Cherry said she will always remember her father, who gave her the best childhood and taking the kids on an out-of-state trips so they could learn more about the world. He also taught them about the value of family and community.

"He would help anybody who needed help and would cook for everybody," Cherry said. "He would cook at funerals and take fish to grieving families."

Those are the memories that also stick with Stills.

"Great person. He's a great cook, too," Stills said. "He used to barbecue for people."

[Lipripper]

Another sad story and prayers goes out to friends and family. It might of made a difference if he had his PFD on. I have to remind myself to put mine on in John's boat cause if I fell in with my weaken condition I don't think I could swim far either.

[WTodd]

Well that sucks...... I bet he's fishing in heaven waiting on his fishing partner


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[big g]

So sad, wind and big lakes can be a bad mix!