THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2020 MB 7over five days.
His final moments were dim. His life of 16
years was not.
At 6-foot-4, he towered above classmates
but was relatable and silly. Always on the
honor roll, he developed an interest in the
stock market from an uncle, and a love for
baking from his grandmother. He had per-
fected layer cakes and liked to host cook-
outs, grilling ribs and chicken.
“There’s 18 of us grandchildren,” said his
cousin Ty Thompson, 29. “All of us agree:
He was the most perfect one. He never got
into trouble, never even got into a fight. Par-
ents loved him.”
The day Gabe left for the Rockaways, he
told his grandmother he would not go into
the water. The words still weigh heavy.
After his death, his mother, Clarica
Thompson, took a leave of absence from her
job as a social worker. She gave her son’s
PlayStation and sneakers to his friends,
who promised to treasure them. She kept
Gabe’s favorite blue suit, the one he wore for
a Sweet 16 party, and the Nikes he had
planned to lace up for varsity basketball.
Ms. Thompson, 51, sees a therapist and
keeps in touch with a group of parents who
have lost their children.
But there are moments when the mad-
ness creeps in. When her mind wanders
back to those days her boy was missing,
when the world had no answers, when she
learned that hope could buoy you but also
drag your mind into darkness.
“I couldn’t sleep; I was up every night,”
she recalled.
“All I kept thinking about was the water.
He’s in the water. Where is he? Where,
where, where?”
TIARA COAXUM
Tiara Coaxum, 16, far right,
was a gifted artist, a star
basketball player and a
science and math whiz. She
drowned off the Rockaways
in summer 2008. Her
mother, Tikhia Williams,
right, said that since then,
every drowning in the area
split open the wound of her
daughter’s death.
GABRIEL RICEGabriel Rice was 16 when he
drowned last year at Rock-
away Beach. He was the
only child of his single
mother, Clarica Thompson,
seated left, with her mother,
Gertrude Thompson. Gabri-
el’s middle school gradua-
tion cap and gown and
photographs of him still
hang in his old room, below.‘If I could get
one message to
people: Standing
up to your knees
is swimming in
the ocean.’
ANN KIRBY-PAYNE, 50,
who has lived all her life in
Far Rockaway.