The Story
James Clarke was sitting with his wife Jane - "my bride," he always called her - reading books on the beach on the evening of June 5 at the end of a weekend away from their Watchung home. A friend of his teenage son had scrambled out of the surf. Peter Clarke, 15, and two other boys were caught in a riptide. One had sucked saltwater into his lungs.
Heroic rescue, but tragic
James, whose friends called him Jimmy, dropped his phone and his copy of "Factory Man" and dashed into the waves to rescue them. Within moments, he and the boys had made it back to shore. But the 55-year-old Jimmy faltered, stopped and then collapsed, dead of an apparent heart attack, his wife said.
Jane and Peter said he died a hero that day, but that cold comfort did nothing to fill the void left by his absence.
Couldn’t Save Him
Peter said he tried to perform CPR on his father. Jane said a nurse happened to be nearby and took over. Then the paramedics arrived.
But soon after, Peter was recovering in his room in the beachfront home with his friends when he heard sobbing outside. He said he knew then his father was gone. The boy who had breathed in the saltwater recovered, but his father couldn’t.
Death from natural causes
The Ocean County Medical Examiner's office said that Clarke's autopsy results would take several weeks to come back but that his death appeared to the result of "natural" causes. His wife thoughts are sad too.
Jane recalled their last day together.
"I literally looked over at him and thought in my head, 'This is the best that we've ever had it,'" she remembered. "And that's my last memory of him."
Your Thoughts?
Have you heard about the event? Did you maybe know this great man? Let us know in the comment section below!
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