A Calgary man has died after saving a 10-year-old girl from drowning at Lake Windermere last week.
According to his mother, 20-year-old Jonathan Palmiere was spending a weekend in Invermere, B.C., with his girlfriend’s family when a day at the beach took a tragic turn.
The group was at the lake on Friday, May 31st, when his girlfriend’s 10-year-old step-sister, Peyton, started drifting away on a floaty.
“I guess it went a little too far and she jumped off. She was head-bobbing up and down and calling for help,” said Jonathan’s mother Toni Palmiere. “The first thing he did was he ran out to help her. According to her father, everyone was looking and all they could see was Jonathan trying to keep her head above water, he wasn’t a great swimmer.”
Toni said her son loved kids and always went out of his way to make them feel included.
“The last big thing he did was he basically took her feet and massively power thrusted her out of the water and threw her closer to shore so people could get her,” said Toni.
Once the girl was safe on shore the group went out on paddleboards to look for Jonathan, but his body had drifted to the bottom of the lake.
“They pulled him up and tried to do CPR on the paddleboard all the way to the shore. They tried to do CPR, they had defibrillators and tried so hard. First responders were so quick, they took him to the hospital and they were working on him so feverishly, but he had too much water and he drowned,” said Toni.
Peyton’s father Kiel Jordan said he is grateful for Jonathan’s heroic rescue.
“Because of Jon's selfless actions I still get to wrap my arms around my daughter. I am so sorry for their loss but am so thankful and grateful for the sacrifice he made. He is and always will be a hero to my family and I,” said Jordan in a statement.
Jordan and his family have planned a memorial motorcycle ride in Jonathan’s memory on June 29th starting at Grey Eagle Casino.
Jonathan is being remembered as a hard-worker with a big heart. After attending the carpentry program at SAIT, he worked for a local framing company with hopes of owning his own home in his early twenties.
His mother says she hopes her son is remembered for his bravery. She shared a special conversation with him over facetime, the night before he died.
“We had a 48 minute facetime conversation. It was great, he was telling me all about his weekend and how excited he was. And you know how you see yourself on facetime and think, oh, I look horrible. He was like ‘Mom, you’re beautiful, you’re always beautiful to me’. I’d kill for him to come up and wrap his arms around me.”
A memorial service has been planned at Foothills Alliance Church at 1 pm on Monday, June 10.
