Florida Baptists minister to Georgia teens in drowning disaster

SUWANEE, Fla. - On a blustery day in late February the fellowship hall of Florida's First Baptist Church here became a sanctuary for a group of Georgia students whose spring break adventure turned deadly.

The fellowship hall became a sanctuary of abundant, homemade food and dry, donated clothing. It became a sanctuary for the students' arriving families and friends to embrace and pray. It became a sanctuary to receive updates and, ultimately, heartbreaking news, away from the reporters' notepads and cameras.

"We were just doing what Jesus would have done," said Suwanee pastor Fred Edwards.

A group of eight Georgia teens and two adult chaperones in canoes and kayaks had set off in seemingly calm waters on Saturday, Feb. 26. The weather abruptly changed, and the canoe carrying the group's two youngest students drifted out of sight.

One chaperone and an older student set off, searching for the two drifting teens. Soon, in darkening skies and choppy water, the two missing students, the search-party duo, and the six left behind were all in trouble; and the Coast Guard was called.

Townsfolk in Suwanee began hearing the news trickle in on the early and chilly Sunday morning. The group of six had been found in the wee hours of the morning, and they were at Miller's Marina, "cold, frightened and in a semi-state of shock," according to native Georgian Jake Cravey, volunteer chaplain for the local sheriff's department and retired pastor of First Baptist Church, Cross City, Fla.

A bit later, the chaperone-and-student search party was also found, alive. Still, the two young teen boys, Sean Wilkinson and Clay McKemie, from The Darlington School in Rome, were missing.

Under the quick leadership of pastor Edwards and layperson Tom Leverrett, First Baptist Church members mobilized for action. Their small fishing community had been devastated almost 12 years-to-the-day earlier when the "storm of the century" rolled through, according to Edwards. Many disaster-relief crews, including some from Georgia, headed south to help Floridians in need. Now it was Suwanee's opportunity to give back.

The students were brought to the warm church, within walking distance of the marina, and were encouraged to use the church telephone to call their parents and friends. Although many of the students had cell phones, Suwanee has no cell phone signal. Food and clothing soon began coming through the doors.

"We had to turn some people away who wanted to help," said Leverrett. Suwanee church members "loved up on these kids and kept them safe until their parents could get there," said Tommy McDeermond, a relative of Wilkinson and a member of Acworth's Wildwood Baptist Church, where the youngster's immediate and extended family holds its church membership.

Family members and friends from Georgia began to arrive early Sunday evening and were ushered quickly into the church for their family reunions. The only motel in town opened its doors for students and their families to shower and sleep, free of charge.

While some of the arriving Georgians wanted simply to hold their loved ones; others, including Wilkinson's father and step-father, joined the search party.

"They wanted to do something," said Cravey. Church members with water craft and knowledge of the finicky waters took them out, searching along the shoreline as the Coast Guard and marine patrol searched further out in the Gulf of Mexico.

As the physical search for the boys continued, Cravey found numerous opportunities to pray with and discuss spiritual matters with those waiting for news. At least one adult was led to make a profession of faith.

Giving comfort

"We gave them spiritual comfort and tried to make them as physically comfortable as possible," explained Leverrett, whose earlier Georgia connection had come from his military career.

Time ticked slowly; church members encouraged their new friends "to not give up hope," said Leverrett. Then on Monday, close to noon, came the news that nobody wanted to hear. The two boys had been found, floating lifeless, with their life preservers on, several miles out in the Gulf of Mexico.

The tears began to flow. Small groups, with many accompanied by Cravey, went to kneel and pray at the altar in the church's chapel.

Soon, the grieving Georgians headed back toward home, saddened yet grateful that Florida Baptists were there to "show them God's love when they needed it the most," said McDeermond, who led in his young cousin's funeral days later.

Poems written by Sean Wilkinson that were read at his funeral point toward him having some indictaion that his time on Earth was limited, according to Wilkinson's cousin, Tommy McDeermond. McDeermond, a layperson at Wildwood Baptist Church in Acworth who officiated the funeral, says this has brought comfort to the family.

Sean Wilkinson

Sean Wilkinson