Drowning victims
recalled as lovingA boy is orphaned after his parents
die in waters off Kauai
LIHUE » Terry and Debora Hantack never went anywhere without their 11-year-old son, Daniel.
"They were very protective of Daniel," said Norma Mendoza, a reporter for the Edwardsville (Ill.) Intelligencer who knows many of the Hantacks' friends.
Daniel and his parents were especially close because of earlier family tragedies. The Hantacks previously lost a 3-year-old son who was trampled by a horse, and Debora Hantack suffered a miscarriage when she was kicked by a horse, Mendoza said.
On Thursday, Daniel was with his parents -- Terry, 50, and Debora, 51, of rural Edwardsville, Ill., a suburb of St. Louis, Mo. -- when they were killed by a rogue wave that sucked them out to sea at Lumahai Beach on Kauai's North Shore. The same wave knocked him over, but bystanders pulled him to safety. He was uninjured.
Daniel Hantack's uncle was scheduled to arrive on Kauai last night from Illinois to pick up the boy.
"He's OK physically," a state Child Protective Services worker said late yesterday. The youngster was placed in a foster home on Kauai until his uncle, Gary Hantack, a twin brother of Daniel's father, could fly to Kauai.
Terry Hantack held a master's degree in social work and worked as a "Biblical Christian counselor," according to his Web site. His wife helped him operate the business.
The couple and their son, who is a sixth-grader at Liberty Middle School in Edwardsville and on spring break, flew to Kauai on Wednesday and had been on the island less than a day. A message on their voice mail left by Debora Hantack said they planned to return on April 14.
"He was a really hard-working therapist who was looking forward to a break," said Susan Smead, a social worker who has worked with Terry Hantack. "He said he would be happy to just sit around a hotel room for 10 days and just read."
"He was a godly man, a phenomenal man. Patients and everybody just loved him. Debbie was a jewel. She worked with him," Smead added.
Lifeguards from nearby Hanalei were dispatched at 11:06 a.m. Thursday and arrived at Lumahai on personal watercraft a few minutes later. They found both Hantacks floating face down in 7- to 8-foot surf, fire officials said.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was unsuccessful. Kauai Fire Department personnel arrived with an automated external defribrillator, which also was unsuccessful. Both of the Hantacks were pronounced dead at the scene.
An autopsy was to be conducted to determine whether the couple drowned or died from other causes.
Kauai Hospice workers took charge of Daniel initially, and he was later turned over to Child Protective Services.
"My heart goes out to this young boy and his family," Kauai Mayor Bryan Baptiste said in a statement. "I would like to ask all of Kauai to keep this boy, who tragically lost his parents, and his family in their thoughts and prayers."
Lumahai Beach ranks as one of the most frequently photographed beaches in the world.
It also is one of the deadliest on Kauai and the scene of numerous drownings in the winter months. Offshore rock formations cause dangerous rip currents, especially near the mouth of Lumahai River.
It is best known worldwide as the beach where Mitzi Gaynor sang "I'm Going to Wash That Man Right out of My Hair" in the 1957 movie "South Pacific." It was used as the setting for the nurses' quarters and has been known on Kauai ever since as "Nurses' Beach."
In legend, Lumahai Valley is where the menehune first settled when they came to Kauai.
For decades, visitors trespassed across private property to reach the beach.
In 2001 the Trust for Public Land purchased the 40 undeveloped acres adjacent to Lumahai Beach from descendants of George N. Wilcox, founder of the Grove Farm plantation. It was given to the state for use as a park, but a shortage of funds has prevented any improvements to the area.