Though he did not know he was going to die, an Alabama grandfather used his final moments on this earth to save the life of his 5-year-old grandson. Sadly, he had a fatal heart attack immediately after while the family was on vacation.
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75-year-old Charles "Chuck" Graves' family will remember him as a hero. He proved it in his final moments. He saved his grandson from drowning during a family vacation. The grandfather realized that his grandson had been caught up in a current. The incident happened in Dauphin Island.
Immediately, Graves jumped into the water and began swimming after his grandson. The grandfather managed to retrieve the boy and pull him to safety. From there, he passed his grandson to another family member and told them to get to shore.
Grandfather Saved Grandson
Graves never followed. The family quickly realized something was wrong and went after him. Initially thinking he was drowning, it turned out the grandfather had a heart attack. First responders flew Graves to a nearby hospital via helicopter where he later perished.
"We think... Chuck already knew something was wrong or that something was happening because he never made an attempt to swim in, even though he was out of harm's way already," told Grave's daughter-in-law, Valerie Belt, to WALA.
According to Belt, family was very important to him, and the grandfather proved it with his last act. "He loved them all," she said.
"That was always the one thing. He was definitely one of a kind," Belt added. "He just wanted all of his kids together all the time."
According to his obituary, Graves retired to Florida and loved fishing. It read, "He worked for TVA-Shawnee Steam Plant and retired in January 2005. Upon retirement he worked for Montgomery Gardens before returning to TVA for a few years. Chuck enjoyed spending time fishing and he and Maura enjoyed many travels in their retirement years, visiting several countries in the process. Chuck became an avid pickleball player after moving to Florida and spent as much time as he could on the water trying to catch that big fish! However, nothing was more important to him than his family and his Lord and Savior."
