NORTH YARMOUTH, Maine — Friends and co-workers are remembering a father and husband from North Yarmouth who died while saving his young children from a rip current in Florida.
“No one can say enough good things about who Ryan Jennings was,” Dr. Geraldine Ollila told NEWS CENTER Maine’s Amanda Hill on Monday.
Jennings died on April 1 after he saved two of his children from a rip current at Juno Beach, FL, according to police. The family was on vacation at the time.
“Obviously, there’s no way to fully understand the grief and what they’re having to process,” Ollila said. “And specifically with their three young children and one on the way.”
Jennings was a coach for his son’s middle school teams, a husband, a father, and according to Ollila, a pillar of his community. He and his wife, Emily, had recently learned they were expecting their fourth child.
“My colleagues and I have been talking about this devastating loss and that’s what we are all saying is that his eyes would practically sparkle when he talked about his wife and his family,” Cristina Hepburn, who worked with Jennings several years ago, told NEWS CENTER Maine.
“He really was very kind and just really wore his heart on his sleeve and a really all-around good human being,” Hepburn continued.
Ollila shared many of the same sentiments when talking about the person Jennings was.
“Everyone knows him in the community as just an upstanding guy, a loyal, loyal husband, an exceptional son, father,” Ollila said.
Ollila created a GoFundMe to help the family. As of Monday at 5 p.m., more than $176,000 had been donated.
“And the family is very united, but just in an absolute, understandable, deep state of grief and processing,” Ollila said.
