Family sounds warning after their son, 12, drowns in Hyco Lake
Now that the warm weather months have arrived, the family of a 12-year-old who drowned this week at Hyco Lake is sharing a warning.
Posted — UpdatedThey say parents should take every precaution they can for children wanting to swim at lakes where there is no help around. If not, you could regret it forever.
The parents of Aviyon Partridge said they repeatedly ask themselves what they could've done differently.
"We were all on the pier and he was over there," far away, Andrew Partridge said. "And he wasn't catching any fish so he wanted to go swimming."
Suddenly, Aviyon, who did not know how to swim, went too deep and never came back up.
"Tell your kids you love them every day," the elder Partridge said. "Because you just never know."
Aviyon's parents say he was a star athlete, and they have his trophies and jerseys all over their Roxboro home.
He went from being their baby – the youngest of four -- to being 6-feet-4 inches tall.
"I would like for him to be remembered as the kid with the big heart," Tanillya Partridge said.
The parents hope their tragedy will prevent others.
They want to one day open a swimming center in Roxboro to teach kids the life-saving skill of swimming. In the meantime, however, they want their experience to serve as a warning to others and urge parents to take the risk that water poses seriously.
"That's what I just keep rewinding: What if? What if," his mother says now. "That's really been weighing me down."
Hyco Lake does offer free life jackets for the body of water that started out as a reservoir to cool water down coming from a nearby utility plant.
The Partridge family urges anyone who is not a strong swimmer to take advantage of them. Aviyon's funeral is set for Sunday.
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