A memorial service will be held Wednesday for a young woman from Decatur who drowned earlier this month in the Virgin Islands.
Ellen Elizabeth Nettles, 19, was on an internship at the Virgin Islands Sustainable Farm Institute and was living in St. Croix when she went swimming with friends on Dec. 8 in tide pools at Annaly Bay.
According to a police account published in the St. Croix Source, the water began to get rough, and when Nettles tried to get out of the water, she was pulled under by the current.
Her body surfaced about five minutes later, about 30 feet from where she was last seen, the Source reported.
Nettles had attended the Atlanta International School and Decatur High School before moving to Savannah after her mother’s death in 2009 and graduating from Jenkins High.
She had recently completed a summer/fall internship at Elderberry Pond organic farm in Auburn, N.Y.
In a statement to the Source, the Ridge to Reef farm where Nettles was interning said she “was extremely passionate about growing food organically and enjoying each moment in life.”
A memorial service was held on Saturday at the Ridge to Reef farm in St. Croix, and a second service is planned for 1 p.m. Wednesday at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta.
Nettles is survived by her father, Jim Nettles, a research professor at Emory University, and a sister, Eve Nettles.
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