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Larry Przbylski of Cincinnati visited Lake George to gain some understanding of what happened to his mother, Chris Przbylski, 67, who died when a boat capsized. "It doesn't make sense," he says.A somber journey east
Children of the victims head to N.Y. in search of answers, and to claim their parents' bodies.
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LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. -- It was the last place they wanted to be. It was the last thing they wanted to see.
But the children of the 20 people who died when their tour boat capsized came to this bucolic community in upstate New York on Tuesday to bring their parents home.
Once here, they found themselves drawn to the placid lake that claimed their mothers and fathers.
"It's hard to describe," Larry Przbylski said about his need to visit the tree-rung lake. "It's just about understanding what happened."
The Cincinnati resident, 46, stood on the shoreline 100 yards from the spot where his mother drowned.
Chris Przbylski, 67, lived in Whitmore Lake. If Przbylski came for answers, he left with questions. How does a boat flip over on a lake that on Tuesday was as smooth as a pane of glass?
"It's unbelievable that this type of event could take place under these conditions," he said. "It doesn't make sense."
Carol Ann Marsh isn't interested in searching for truth in Lake George. She just wants to go home to Sterling Heights.
Marsh, 54, was a passenger on the Ethan Allen when it flipped over Sunday.
She survived the ordeal, but her mother did not.
Marsh plans to fly home as soon as she receives a death certificate, said her daughter, Ann Marsh.
But she's worried whether the airlines will allow her to fly without any identification, which was lost in the capsizing.
"She wants to come home," the younger Marsh said. "She's trying to be strong but not doing too well of a job of it."
Carol Ann Marsh will have the remains of her mother, Ann Beamish, cremated and then hold a memorial service in Michigan.
Michele Vander Velde has no intention of setting foot in the town where her 75-year-old mother died.
Instead, the Rockford resident sent photos of Joyce Chapman to the coroner's office here to identify the body.
Vander Velde's husband, Mark, said the couple has no interest in visiting the site where Chapman perished.
"It's hard to believe that it all happened," he said. "I can hardly believe that now she's gone."
Michele Vander Velde will visit Trenton today to begin planning the funeral for her mom. She expects her mother's body to arrive Thursday.
She had to wait until the coroner's office performed partial autopsies of the victims, which found that most had died from hypothermia and drowning.
The high number of victims delayed the release of the body, Mark Vander Velde said.
A spokeswoman for the Albany, N.Y., Medical Center, where the autopsies were performed, declined to discuss them.
In the meantime, the Vander Veldes try to make life as normal as possible for their children in middle and high schools.
"There's not much we can do yet," Mark Vander Velde said.
You can reach Francis X. Donnelly at (313) 223-4186 or fdonnelly@detnews.com.
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The Detroit News.
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