Robert Louis (pictured right), 59, drowned in Lake Superior on Sunday
A son who had set sail on Lake Superior drowned while spreading his late father’s ashes over the water.
Authorities say Robert Louis from Lake Orion, Michigan was thrown from his boat as it overturned around 6.00pm on Sunday, according to local NBC affiliate WLUC.
A witness on shore told police that the ship, 19 foot wooden kit boat, took a sharp turn and threw the passengers off the vessel as they were fulfilling the final wishes of Louis’ father.
‘When troopers arrived they found that six boaters had been rescued by a pontoon boat that had been in the area and were currently being treated for hypothermia,’ Michigan State Police Trooper Alan Park said.
He had gone to fulfill his father’s last wish of having his ashes scattered across the water
Robert Louis’ father (pictured) died two weeks ago after years of battling Alzheimer’s
‘The seventh passenger was not recovered immediately.’
His father died two weeks ago after battling Alzheimer’s for the last several years.
‘My brother literally devoted his whole life to you know, stick around and making sure dad was taken care of for the last four years of his life and then two weeks later we had his ashes and his was half on mom’s grave and the other half on Lake Superior,’ Louis’ brother John ‘Joe’ Louis said.
‘Just everybody he met was his friend, he was very helpful, kind,’ Joe Louis told WLUC.
‘The kind of guy that would run into a building on fire to help the people, just, incredible.’
Troopers believe that Robert Louis may have been injured after falling from the boat or was unable to swim.
A witness told authorities that Louis’ boat had flipped over after making a sharp turn
Police said that Robert Louis was most likely injured as he was flung from the boat, preventing him from swimming to safety
‘What I gathered from the information was, he tried to grab the boat as it was circling around him or them and the prop hit him and I’m not sure if it made it so he couldn’t swim or if it injured him bad enough to be life threatening,’ Alger County Sheriff’s Department Officer A.J. Schirschmidt said.
Robert Louis’s neighbor, Virginia Wallerman, remembered the 59-year-old fondly, saying he was a fun-loving man who enjoyed playing music.
‘He was always talking with the kids, very friendly… He would play music, he would play guitar on the back porch. We would gather at the campfire here,’ Wallerman recalled.
If you would like to donate to the Bobby Louis Memorial, a GoFundMe page has been made available.