Man who couldn’t swim died saving a child from the Chattahoochee River

ROSWELL — West of the bridge at the county line, the translucent green Chattahoochee River slips over the rocks with an almost musical sound. It is peaceful at Garrard Landing, shaded by pecan trees and other hardwoods, a good place to go fishing in the summer twilight.

Frank Young was 59, a New Yorker who moved to metro Atlanta during the pandemic, a humble man who gave to the poor and cared for stray animals. On July 2, he was fishing at Garrard Landing when he was forced to make a life-and-death decision.

A 4-year-old girl fell into the river and drifted away from the shore. Her mother went in after her. According to a police report, the mother could not swim.

By multiple accounts, Young couldn’t swim, either.

“As long as I’ve known him,” his sister Andrea Young said in a phone interview, “he wasn’t a swimmer.”

That was the situation. A mother and child struggling in the river. A fisherman on the bank who couldn’t swim. It’s impossible to know what Young was thinking right then, the calculations he was making. But his sister said Young lived by a motto that was often seen or heard at the family home when he was growing up. It was from the late Mahatma Gandhi:

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

And so, in the warm dusk near Holcomb Bridge, the man who couldn’t swim went into the river anyway.

Credit: Courtesy of Andrea Young

Credit: Courtesy of Andrea Young

A 14-year-old boy, an older brother of the 4-year-old who was in the water, saw what happened next. According to the police report, the boy saw Young help the boy’s mother and little sister to shore.

It’s not clear what went wrong for Young, how the river took hold of him. When a reporter visited the family’s apartment in Doraville, the mother asked that her name not be used and declined to let her son be interviewed. She said the incident was too painful to talk about.

But this much is unmistakable: Even as he helped save the little girl and her mother, Frank Young could not save himself.

And no one else was there to save him.

After the boy helped his mother and sister out of the water, the report said, “he saw Mr. Young go under the water and not resurface.”

ExploreMan drowns after rescuing child from Chattahoochee River

Credit: Thomas Lake/AJC

The river is more dangerous than it looks. It has swift undercurrents and concealed hazards. The water can be surprisingly cold and deep. A search of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s archives turned up the stories of dozens of people who had drowned in the Chattahoochee in or near metro Atlanta. They were young and old, locals and visitors. They were divers, rafters, kayakers, fishermen. Some could swim, but not well enough.

In 1986, a theft suspect ran from police and jumped in the river in jeans and work boots. The current took him, and he drowned. In 2015, a young man tried to swim across the river. He got within five yards of the shore before he “just gave out,” a friend said. He was later found in 26 feet of water.

On July 2 at Garrard Landing, rescuers waded into the river to look for Young. According to a Roswell Fire Department report, a rescue boat went downstream and couldn’t find him. The team requested scuba divers from Cobb and Forsyth counties. The Johns Creek Fire Department showed up with a handheld sonar device.

When darkness fell, Roswell’s Boat 21 kept searching the river with spotlights. Eventually, the light fell on Frank Young. He was under seven feet of water, roughly 20 feet from the bank. He’d been in the water for about an hour. Young would have turned 60 in August. The Fulton County Medical Examiner said the cause of death was drowning.

“Mr. Young’s actions were described by witnesses as courageous and selfless,” the report added.

Credit: Courtesy of Andrea Young

Frank Young grew up in Brooklyn and worked as a patient care associate at a hospital, his sister said. He was married to Julia Ore Young and had a 20-year-old son, Alexander. Funeral arrangements are pending. A relative created a GoFundMe to help with expenses.

“FRANKY I WILL CARRY YOU IN MY HEART,” his wife wrote on Facebook.

His sister Andrea said that Young’s wife is out of the country, caring for an ailing relative. So it was Andrea who got an early morning call from the authorities.

“Are you related to Frank Young?” she said someone asked.

“Yes, I’m his sister.”

“Can we have his date of birth?”

“And all I’m saying is, ‘Where’s my brother? Where’s my brother? Just tell me he’s OK.’”

She said he was a shy man. He loved animals and cared for the needs of others. But he didn’t care for nice clothes or fancy cars. Indeed, the police report said he drove a 2007 Toyota Camry. Andrea said her brother wouldn’t have wanted a ceremony. But she wanted one.

“I really think if he did something so heroic, they should have some kind of celebration for him or proclamation.”

In the meantime, she tried to comfort her brother’s son. She sent him a Bible verse, Psalm 30:5, which says that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

The riverside was quiet on Monday afternoon. There was no sign that anyone had been rescued or that anyone had died. Down by the water, the air was cool, and it smelled like the Earth.

The green water sloshed and rolled, moving quickly and steadily. You could catch a fish here, or take a dip, or lie down on a raft and float away.

But this river was a force of nature, swirling and foaming on its winding path toward the coast, a wild thing that could give or take without a word. There were grooves on the surface, hidden things beneath.

You could find yourself here, or lose yourself, or perhaps be saved by a love that overcomes all fear.