Church of God Man Dies After Trying to Rescue a Drowning Man

A 65-year-old man who attended a Florida Church of God died over the weekend after attempting to rescue another man from drowning.

“It turned out the other man gets to live and my husband gets to go home and be with God,” Deb Blare says of her husband, Delbert. The couple attended Cornerstone Church of God in Melbourne, Florida.

Earlier that day, the Blares were at the beach when Delbert, who had lifeguard training, spotted a man drowning away from shore.

“He was looking over the situation to determine if he could get out there, and all I can say is he must have seen a way,” Deb says. Deb is blind, and asked her husband to rescue the other man.

Delbert dove in, but his heart stopped beating and he suffered cardiac arrest. The man who was drowning made it safely back to shore and refused hospital transport.

“Please keep Deb and the family in your prayers during this time of great loss. In lieu of flowers please donate to the GoFundMe in his memory. Donations will go to assist with funeral expenses, repairing their home that was hit by a tornado during Irma, and moving expenses for Deb since [she] will no longer be able to stay here alone due to her disability,” according to the church Facebook page.

Delbert worked at Walmart and left an impact on his colleagues.

“I worked with Delbert as a truck Unloader. I thought of him as my grandpa. He was the grandad to all of us truck Unloaders. We are all deeply hurt by his loss. The only things we could think is.. This is a Delbert thing. He would have done this no matter the situation . He was selfless and had a very beautiful soul. … He always listened to my problems even though he didn’t have to. Always was smiling. I’m going to miss his laugh and beautiful smile. It pains me and the boys that he is gone,” one colleague posted to Facebook.

At the time of reporting, the GoFundMe page had more than $3,700 of the $5,000 goal.