www.thepaperofwabash.com LOCAL POSTAL
PO Box 603, Wabash, IN 46992 (260) 563-8326
PATRON
Ground breaking at Compass Rose Academy – Page 3
FREE
Published Weekly, Read Daily
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID WABASH, IN PERMIT NO. 233 FREE
Andrew Inskeep, a former youth pastor at the Wabash Nazarene Church, looks over the countryside in Oregon. This is the last picture of the pastor taken before his death on Aug. 5. Photos provided By Amy McCarty Special to The Paper
“Help could not be deployed fast enough,” she said. “The area was so large and even screaming was not helping. No one could hear them.” It was then that a student was able to get the attention of a windsurfer. The man, HOOD RIVER, Ore. - A church is mourning their youth pastor after he died a hero, who Langeliers said was named Talon Jesson, first made his way to Inskeep who told giving his life to save members of his youth group on Aug. 5 in the Columbia River. him to move on to another student who was going under water quickly. The windAndrew Inskeep, 44, youth pastor at Ridgefield Church of the Nazarene, Ridgefield, surfer was able to scoop the student up out of the water. A jet skier then flagged down Wash., and former youth pastor at the Wabash Nazarene Church, was with 15 teens a boat that helped get the student to safety. Martin, who has participated in triathlons, began swimming toward 11-year-old and youth sponsors at the Marina Beach sandbar when an evening of fun turned Brandan Raley. With the undertow working against him, he was able to reach tragic. “We had planned to find a swim area just to splash around for 15 minutes and have Brandan, putting him on his back with the boy’s arms wrapped around his neck. He fun because it was so hot out,” said Amber Langeliers, a youth sponsor who was on then began working against the current to get the boy to safety, according to Jim Raley, Brandan’s father. the trip with her daughter, a student. “We With the water rushing over his face and were scouting areas and found a huge sandthe undertow pulling him beneath the surbar where the water was only about knee face of the water, Martin took the youth and deep. placed him on his back to try and keep him “There was no movement in the water. It above the water and out of the undertow. In can get windy and cause waves, but it was doing so, he noticed Brandan was no longer still on top at the time.” breathing, almost immediately the boy’s body The area where the Hood River meets the went limp. Columbia River is a well-known tourist “Shaun began to go underwater himself attraction that draws people to the area for and then thrust Brandan up into the air, hopwater activities. Many people use the area for ing the force would help him to begin to kite surfing, Langeliers said. breathe,” Jim said. “Shaun was drowning “I talked to (adults from the area) about and starting to lose consciousness. He held safety and where the best place to splash onto Brandan as long as he could.” was,” she said. “Andy and I talked and felt it “He let go of Brandan involuntarily was best to have them near the bridge side of because he was drowning himself,” Kris the sandbar away from the kite surfers Raley, Brandan’s mother said. “We know he because kite surfers can move so quickly did the best he could.” when they come down.” Shortly before 7 p.m., Drew Goode, a youth After helping the group get all settled, sponsor with the group, called 911 reporting Langeliers returned to the group’s rental five to six individuals in distress off the sandhome to fix dinner. Inskeep and two other bar. When Hood County Sheriff ’s deputies youth workers stayed with the group. arrived, two of the group were unaccounted Piecing together what happened from for, Inskeep and Brandan. youth on the trip, Langeliers said the group “They were caught in the current so quickhad walked out onto the sandbar. The stuly and it was trying to drag them down like a dents were boxed in on purpose by the staff. A weight,” said Langeliers, who arrived back at short time later, one of the students stepped the area shortly after 7 p.m. onto what she called a shelf. “My daughter called me and I rushed to the “More kids began stepping off and the beach,” she said. more movement there was, the more the shelf Another youth sponsor, Jemima Dougherty, began to give way from under their feet,” she stayed back at the rental home to be ready for said. “Some of the kids were able to self-correct and get to safety, but four were strug- Andrew Inskeep and his wife, former Wabash resident Maria Swinger-Inskeep the students to return. When Langeliers arrived at the beach, she gling. and youth sponsor Trish Martin collected the As the shelf gave way, the students began to students and moved them to a dry area on the be pulled under the water by a strong undertow. Inskeep ran to the water, followed closely by Shaun Martin, a youth volunteer. sand. She then made her way to Martin who was coming out of the water. “He was in shock. I looked at Shaun and it was just as if he had a look of hopelessThe men began to work to get the students to safety. “Shaun was able to get two of the kids on the sand right away. He and Andy went ness. I just knew at that moment it was Andy and Brandan,” she said. “I knew it was going to be a recovery at that point. Too much time had passed.” back for the other students.” She then began searching for people to help locate the missing members of their As the rescue efforts intensified, the students began helping one another, some pulling others back farther from the deep water and others keeping them from going group. She reached out to boaters, kite surfers and jet skiers, but they found nothing. back in the water to help, Langeliers said. Four students ran to call 911. Continued on page 20
August 19, 2020
Proudly Serving Wabash County Since 1977
Vol. 43, No. 22