A teenage boy lost his father in a tragic scuba-diving accident just three weeks after his mother passed away amid a battle with cancer.
From the age of eight, David, now 14, was taken by his father Kenneth Lowery on annual scuba trips to Florida.
The father and son never did away with this tradition, even after David, also known as Xander, lost his mother to cancer some weeks ago. Kenneth and Xander's mother had separated, but the two remained close until her passing.
The father and son had chartered a boat and set off for the dark waters off Juno Beach. But when the pair plunged into the sea, it was only Xander who came back up.
"He called his big brother and told him he was standing there and that he thought his daddy had drowned," Xander's grandmother Kelly Bezayiff told WPTV.
"They went out I guess on a boat. They went down. He knew there were problems, and he tried to get his dad back up, and he couldn't get him back up," Bezayiff said.
Kenneth Lowery pushed the young teenager "up towards the top," and Xander swam up as swiftly as he possibly could.
"When he came up, he looked back and his dad wasn't there," Bezayiff said.
According to officials, the Republic IV charter boat, engaged through the Jupiter Dive Center, took Xander and his dad on a tour around 9AM
By 9:50AM, they both went down into the water.
Just minutes later, Xander resurfaced and shouted out for help.
Some 10 minutes later, the Jupiter police and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission arrived at the scene, searching the waters.
Officials eventually managed to find Lowery's body.
At the time of his passing, Lowery was dive-certified and in the process of becoming a diving instructor.
Bezayiff, Lowery's former mother-in-law, recalled what a wonderful father and person he was.
"He was phenomenal to my daughter as she was dying. He was there for her, even though they weren't together anymore," Bezayiff said.
She continued: "I mean, he was just that type of guy." Bezayiff emphasized that with Lowery's passing, Xander had lost both of his parents over a period of three weeks.
She was in Texas, when she received the phone call about the young boy's father. She made sure to act immediately, stating: "I just started to get to Florida."
