An Alabama grandfather was a hero who saved his grandson's life at the cost of his own. He came to the aid of the 5-year-old's life sacrificing his own in the process.
The family was in Dauphin Island having a nice vacation together when the tragedy occurred. While the grandfather managed to save his grandson, he ended up having a fatal heart attack in the process. His family is calling 75-year-old Charles "Chuck" Graves a hero. They said the man cared deeply for his family and proved it with his dying breath.
So what happened? Graves' grandson got caught in a current while swimming at the beach. Realizing that his grandson was in danger, the grandfather immediately sprang into action. Jumping into the water, he began swimming after the boy. Fortunately, he managed to reach the 5-year-old and rescue him.
Graves ended up passing his grandson to another family member, telling them to get him to shore. Sadly, either the stress of the event or the physical activity of the swim gave the grandfather a fatal heart attack.
Grandfather Saved Grandson
His family feared the worst when the grandfather didn't leave the water. They went to save him and pulled him to the beach. First responders ended up flying Graves to a nearby hospital. But he later died.
"We think... Chuck already knew something was wrong or that something was happening because he never made an attempt to swim in, even though he was out of harm's way already," told Grave's daughter-in-law, Valerie Belt, to WALA. "He loved them all," she also said.
Graves was big on family.
"That was always the one thing. He was definitely one of a kind," Belt added. "He just wanted all of his kids together all the time."
According to his obituary, Graves loved the outdoors. It read, "He worked for TVA-Shawnee Steam Plant and retired in January 2005. Upon retirement he worked for Montgomery Gardens before returning to TVA for a few years. Chuck enjoyed spending time fishing and he and Maura enjoyed many travels in their retirement years, visiting several countries in the process. Chuck became an avid pickleball player after moving to Florida and spent as much time as he could on the water trying to catch that big fish! However, nothing was more important to him than his family and his Lord and Savior."
