Madison grew up two doors down from my parents.
Next door to my grandparents.
Her mother was my Laurel's Advisor.
I taught Madison's younger siblings in Primary when Nate and I were first married.
I watched all the news clips of her tragic death.
(Her and her brother were playing near the Siox Falls, when her brother fell in. Madison jumped in the freezing cold water to save him. Her brother miraculously made it out of the water. Madison passed away along with an onlooker who tried to help the children.)
I was haunted. I kept having nightmares about it.
I was glad her funeral fell on the weekend I was there not only to show support to her beautiful parents but also to find some peace about such a tragic situation.
Saturday morning I got up and got dressed and went down to our local chapel.
From the moment I entered the chapel, I was filled with such peace and hope.
Her mother stood up and read her life sketch.
She was composed and faith filled and although you knew her heart was breaking, you also knew she knew families are eternal and that she would be with Madison again.
Her strength, strengthened me.
I felt so blessed to be there and so thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that teaches us that there is a life beyond this and that we can be together, with those we love, forever.
In Madison's mother's words. She was with her children picnicking by the Falls when the tragedy happened.
It's been interesting that I still get people asking questions of did Garrett really go into the water, or was he just in the foam. For those who want to know what really happened. Garrett said he did not try to jump in the foam. He was playing way to close and fell onto the rocks, he had scratches and torn pants then when he reached the bottom of the rocks under the foam he slipped on the rocks and fell into the river. He was in the river but close to the side then he heard a splash and Madison had gone into try and find him he heard her, and they were really close to each other but the foam was making it difficult to see each other. Cory Lawrence started brushing the foam away and was reaching towards Madison, then in Cory's words: "Lyle jumped right into help. He was a strong-minded person. He knew what was right and what we had to do. He offered to have me and my friend lower him down but to hold onto him, so we lowered him down, gave him my friend's jacket in his left hand and the girl grabbed onto the jacket. At first he was like, pull me up, pull me up, but then he's like wait a minute, she's on my legs, I've got her, I've got her hold on."
"So he stood there for about a minute as she gripped onto his legs and then he's like alright pull me up. We tried to pull him up. The weight was too much, the current was strong. We both had his one arm and we tried to pull him up. We couldn't, so then we yelled, he's slipping we need help, somebody help!"
"There were about 10, 15 people behind us, we yelled for help. One person came and grabbed onto my friends leg so she didn't get pulled in. Lyle sat there and yelled at his friend to grab his left arm and no body else came to help, (this is disappointing, this is the part where I'd wished I was at the scene so that I could have helped them hold on for longer, another 5 minutes and they would have been saved) but We held on for about five minutes and the weight was too much and they slipped out of our hand and disappeared." Garrett told me that he was able to grab on the rocks, he pretty much stayed in the same area but Madison drifted down a little bit with the strong current, but Garrett miraculously pulled himself out about the time Madison and Lyle slipped and started to climb up the rocks, no body pushed him he "saved himself" he said as he used the large rocks in the river as stairs to pull himself out of the water and to climb upward, then Cory saw him and helped pull him out of the foam. I am so grateful Garrett had some heavenly help to get out, I don't think I could have handled loosing two children, one is bad enough.
"So he stood there for about a minute as she gripped onto his legs and then he's like alright pull me up. We tried to pull him up. The weight was too much, the current was strong. We both had his one arm and we tried to pull him up. We couldn't, so then we yelled, he's slipping we need help, somebody help!"
"There were about 10, 15 people behind us, we yelled for help. One person came and grabbed onto my friends leg so she didn't get pulled in. Lyle sat there and yelled at his friend to grab his left arm and no body else came to help, (this is disappointing, this is the part where I'd wished I was at the scene so that I could have helped them hold on for longer, another 5 minutes and they would have been saved) but We held on for about five minutes and the weight was too much and they slipped out of our hand and disappeared." Garrett told me that he was able to grab on the rocks, he pretty much stayed in the same area but Madison drifted down a little bit with the strong current, but Garrett miraculously pulled himself out about the time Madison and Lyle slipped and started to climb up the rocks, no body pushed him he "saved himself" he said as he used the large rocks in the river as stairs to pull himself out of the water and to climb upward, then Cory saw him and helped pull him out of the foam. I am so grateful Garrett had some heavenly help to get out, I don't think I could have handled loosing two children, one is bad enough.
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