
Christopher Kearney, left, and his late son Callum. (GoFundMe photo)
An online fundraiser to support the family of a teenager who drowned in the Owen Sound harbour on Tuesday has raised nearly $15,000.
Fifteen-year-old Callum Kearney was swimming with friends off the pier when he succumbed to the currents and drowned, his father Christopher Kearney says in a GoFundMe post.
“He was such a smart, handsome, funny, calm boy who everybody loved,” Kearney says about his late eldest son. “A bright light in his (family’s) lives has dimmed.”
Kearney says it is with a heavy heart he is asking for donations to help cover funeral expenses and any assistance to his family while they grieve.
“Thank you all for the love and support,” Kearney writes in a social media post. “Words cannot describe the pain I feel… life will never be the same without you son. Until we meet again.”
Emergency services were called to the west side pier around 2 p.m. Tuesday, after Owen Sound Police were notified about a 15-year-old boy swimming with friends who failed to surface.
Police, firefighters and the Canadian Coast Guard scanned the waters for several hours, but couldn’t find Callum. The young man’s body was recovered by the OPP dive unit Tuesday evening.