The 11-year-old orphaned son of the couple who died at Lumaha‘i Thursday during the family’s first vacation to Hawai‘i is in the hands of his Mainland family. Natilee Hutchens, 73, the boy’s maternal grandmother said she had spoken twice with
The 11-year-old orphaned son of the couple who died at Lumaha‘i Thursday during the family’s first vacation to Hawai‘i is in the hands of his Mainland family.
Natilee Hutchens, 73, the boy’s maternal grandmother said she had spoken twice with her grandson since the incident.
Hutchens said she and her husband, L.D. Hutchens, a retired factory worker, would raise her grandson Daniel Hantack.
“Yesterday he was crying something terrible. Today, he said, ‘I’m OK, Grandma,’” said Hutchens, who is from Madison County, Illinois, an area near St. Louis.
Hutchens said the Hantacks had suffered numerous heartaches.
About 11 years ago, their first son, Samuel, died at age 2 when a horse the family was boarding escaped from the corral and trampled the toddler. Three years before that, the couple endured the stillborn death of another child.
“I told him we’d take care of him as long as we were able,” she said. “And if need be, Gary (Hantack) would take him from there.”
Witnesses said Terry Hantack, 51, his wife, Debbie, 50, and their only child, Daniel, were watching waves from a rock ledge at Lumaha‘i Beach when a wave struck them washing them into the ocean, Kauai County public information officer Cyndi Mei Ozaki said.
The wave knocked Daniel down, but bystanders rescued him. He was not seriously hurt.
Hutchens said Kauai Police officers told her that her daughter and son-in-law suffered serious head injuries after they were swept into the sea, when more waves followed and flung them against rocks.
“Daniel told me he was scratched but not hurt too badly,” Hutchens said. “He said the wave picked him up and tossed him onto the beach.”
She said the family flew from St. Louis on Wednesday and arrived on Kaua‘i on Thursday shortly after midnight.
The visit to Lumaha‘i Beach had been the family’s first planned activity on their 10-day trip, Hutchens said.
“They had all been so excited. Daniel got an extra three days added to spring break because it was such a special trip,” Hutchens said. Daniel attended Liberty Middle School in Edwardsville, Il.
Terry Hantack was a licensed social worker, who had his own business counseling troubled families. Debbie Hantack retired recently after working 30 years for Southwestern Bell. The family lived on Eaton Lane, in a rural area north of Edwardsville.
Terry Hantack’s twin brother, Gary Hantack, of St. Charles County, arrived Friday evening to bring Daniel home. The boy had been in the care of state Child Welfare Services.
Ozaki said lifeguards got a distress call indicating that the couple had been swept out to sea about 11 a.m. Thursday. Lifeguards raced on personal water craft to reach the unconscious couple as they were being pulled out to sea, Ozaki said.
Emergency crews attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation and later used a defibrillator but could not revive the couple.
Signs at a trail head warned of strong currents and dangerous shore breaks. “It’s a general rule of thumb not to turn your back on the ocean,” she added.
The Garden Island contributed to this report.
