Body of missing boater found on Kentucky Lake
After a four-day search, the body of a former Humboldt fire chief was recovered Wednesday from Kentucky Lake.
About 11:18 a.m., a 911 dispatcher received a call that the body of 73-year-old Wayne Day was found in the water near Beaver Dam in Benton County, according to a news release from Benton County Sheriff Cecil Wells. The body was taken to Camden General Hospital before being sent to the medical examiner in Memphis for autopsy.
Day was fishing with a friend in a catfish tournament Saturday when a barge struck their boat about 9:15 a.m. His friend, Jimmy Bratcher of Medina, told authorities he escaped seconds before impact by jumping from the front of the boat and swimming beneath the barge, Wells said.
Day served as Humboldt's fire chief for 10 years and also had been fire chief at the Milan Army Ammunition Plant. He most recently worked as a school crossing guard and as a night manager at Estes Food Center on Central and 22nd avenues in Humboldt.
''We just kept him and his family in our prayers, and at least there's closure now,'' said Jessica Kyle, an employee at the store.
''It's really quiet here,'' Kyle said of the store's mood about an hour after hearing the news Wednesday afternoon. ''Everybody's just real upset.''
Day's family declined comment Wednesday.
''He was doing what he loved doing - fishing,'' Kyle said. ''And that's just the best way to look at it.''
The accident occurred off Camden Landing, about a mile south of the U.S. 70 river bridge across the Tennessee River. His body was found a few miles to the north, which is downstream.
Volunteers and 15 area rescue squads and agencies assisted in the five-day search, the release says.
''He's a firefighter, and we protect our own,'' Humboldt Fire Chief Chester Owens said Tuesday.
Estes Food Center had been flooded with calls and questions about Day since Saturday's accident, Kyle said Wednesday.
''He was the most genuine and caring guy in the world,'' she said. ''Everybody that walked through the door, he smiled at.''
''I don't think there's one person that walked in here that could have anything bad to say about him - everybody just loved him,'' she added.
Shelton-Hunt Funeral Home of Humboldt is handling Day's arrangements, which were incomplete Wednesday evening.
Related :
