About Me
A sand cave collapse took the life of a ten year old boy while he was on vacation with his family over Labor Day Weekend."God protects you and I know Jack protects us and I feel like he's with all of us," said Lisa, Jack Waldrup's mother.In their mourning, they wanted to let the community know how grateful they are.Jonathan Waldrup, or Jack as his friends and family called him, was killed over the Labor Day weekend while digging a sand cave on the beach in Bodega Bay, California.A forty foot cypress tree that he was digging under fell and trapped him.An hour later, 25 rescuers pulled him out, but Jack did not survive.Wednesday night, his family spoke for the first time with News 4."I just wanted to crawl and lay under the covers and cry," said Bill Waldrup, Jack's father.Jack had an innocent smile and big bright eyes.Ten year old Jack brought joy and laughter to all those around him."He got into a little trouble because he came back with the words 'class clown' on his report card last year and I warned him that he better not come home with 'class clown' on there anymore. He said, 'but dad, I wasn't trying to be funny,'" his father said with a laugh.His family says Jack was a boy who loved to build. He was always asking for building models and Legos for his birthday or at Christmas."I would say, 'What do you want to be, Jack?' and he would say, 'Dad, I want to be an architect.' "The boy, who loved to build, died while building a tunnel in the sand on vacation with his family."First, the tree cracked and fell over on top of the hole and everybody was freaking out," said Kile, one of Jack's two older brothers.Kile, 12, was there the day Jack died."It's like you're okay for one second and then it's like you get a panic attack and it's like, 'how am I ever going to go on?'" he said.Now his entire family is trying to cope with the loss."Sometimes, you're just thinking about something and then just for a second you think about something else and then boom, you just start crying," said Hope, Jack's 7 year old sister.The family is thanking the community for all its support."We just want everyone to know they've helped us so much. We couldn't have made it without them," said Lisa, Jack's mother.Jack was laid to rest Sunday, September 9th. More than 700 people attended the service.
