I'm quite sad about this tragedy.  I didn't expect this kind of message to be
posted here.  Hope Ron and his wife will be all right.
Brendan Ryan

Ken wrote:

> To: The POV-Ray Community,
>
>   It is my very sad duty to share with you a tragedy that has happened
> to someone in our community and a member of the POV-Team.
>
>   Ron Parker's 9 year old son Phillip was walking across an ice covered
> pond near his home Saturday afternoon which subsequently broke under his
> weight. It was 45 min. before divers were able to reach him and he died
> early Sunday morning as a result of this accident. I have attached an
> article from a local news paper that describes the event and the extent
> of how this tragedy is affecting Ron and his family.
>
>   Because of this accident Ron will most likely be absent from the news
> groups for the next week or two. If you would like to discuss this here
> you are welcome to though Ron mentioned that he will likely not be reading
> the groups for a while. If you would prefer to extend your sympathies to
> Ron and his wife Julie personaly, through e-mail, he has informed me that
> it would be ok to do so.
>
>   If you do send Ron an e-mail please use this e-mail address -
> ron### [at] povrayorg
>
>  I wish I could say more, or somehow lessen the grief for Ron and his
> family, but for once I find myself speechless and would like Ron to
> know that our thoughts and our sympathies are with him.
>
> -- Ken Tyler
>
> Local News Article:
>
>   Boy dies after falling through ice
>
>  Grieving mother remembers happier times as she copes with the loss of her
> only child.
>
> By Darnell J. Compton of The News@Sentinel
>
>   Just last week, Julie Parker took her 9-year-old son, Phillip Parker,
> to Wendy's for a kid's meal and a toy "time capsule." Inside was a paper
> asking, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
>
>   That was when Julie Parker learned her son wanted to be an astronaut.
>
>   Today, her only child is gone.
>
>   Phillip Parker died Sunday, a day after he fell through the ice of a pond
> in a subdivision in northern Allen County. The boy was flown to Parkview
> Hospital by Samaritan Helicopter in critical condition -- he had been
> underwater at least 45 minutes before he was pulled from the water's bottom,
> said conservation officer Steve Gerber.
>
>   A witness saw the boy fall through the ice about 3:20 p.m. and called 911
> from Lima Road, near Cook Road. The boy's head and an arm rose above the water,
> then he disappeared.
>
>   Divers found the boy, and looked for others, but found no one, Gerber said,
> noting a group of children was playing on the pond earlier in the afternoon.
>
>   The ice on the pond was about an inch thick, Gerber said.
>
>   Phillip's mother wasn't certain it was her son until she was at Parkview
> Hospital and they showed her his clothes.
>
>  "I knew exactly what he was wearing that day," she said.
>
>   The boy was taken to intensive care before surgery, where his mother saw
> him lying there, unconscious. "I told him we loved him, and we were there
> for him."
>
>   She still expects her son to return home, and knows it will be difficult
> to adjust to his absence.
>
>   "This sort of thing happens to other people's kids," she said. "It's kind
> of quiet around here.
>
>   Her son was quick-witted, funny and talkative. If he wasn't out in-line
> skating, or with other kids in their Mill Stone subdivision, he was playing
> checkers or was at a computer, playing "SimPark," or "Age of Empire,"
> challenging simulation games.
>
>   The third-grader from Washington Elementary School was the class clown,
> she said.
>
>   "He had a real witty sense of humor," she said.
>
>   She laughs as she remembers him playing with his Legos. His last creation
> was a two-tailed elephant robot.
>
>   "He had a vivid imagination," she said. "There's not a corner of this house
> that doesn't have a piece of him in it. Clothes, toys ... everything reminds
> me of him.
>
>   "I feel like I am kind of still waiting for him to run around to the front
> door. I know that he won't."

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