Arrangements set for drowned kindergartner

Times staff | Posted: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 2:25 pm | Loading…

Font Size:
Default font size
Larger font size

buy this photo Grace Vah (Contributed Photo)

Related Stories

Other schools still taking pool trips

Park officials in Davenport and Bettendorf said they have not had any cancellations of school trips to area pools after a drowning in Rock Island.

Moline’s pool has yet to open.

Penny Jacobi, manager of the DeWitt (Iowa) Aquatic Center, said a group of kindergartners from Ekstrand Elementary School in DeWitt swam at the pool Thursday, and older children from the school are expected Monday.

Jacobi said she usually has extra staff on hand at the pool on days when large groups of young children are expected, and that the school is good about bringing teachers and parents along to help supervise.

Jacobi called Grace Vah’s drowning tragic, but said it will serve as a reminder to her and her staff to be vigilant on the job.

“It certainly puts us on our toes again,” Jacobi said.

DeWitt Parks and Recreation Director Kevin Lake said he cut a story about Thursday’s drowning in Rock Island out of the newspaper and planned to share it with the pool

The visitation and funeral for the Rock Island kindergartner who drowned on a school field trip have been set.

Grace Vah, 6, will be remembered at a visitation from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday and a funeral at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, both at Bethel Assembly of God, 3535 38th St., Rock Island. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery, Rock Island.

Grace was born in Liberia. She moved to the Quad-Cities as a refugee when she was 2 years old with her mother, Victoria Mohn, and two siblings. An older sister was left behind. The family tried to get the sister here for the funeral but was unable to do so. Mohn also recently gave birth to a son.

Grace's father, Gerald Vah, is dead.

Memorial funds are set up at American Bank & Trust and Wells Fargo.

Grace was a student at Frances Willard Elementary School. She was found underwater in the deep area of the pool at Whitewater Junction on May 28. She was on a field trip with about 260 other students to the complex in Longview Park.

Lifeguards pulled her out of the pool and performed CPR but could not revive her.

Posted in Local on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 2:25 pm Updated: 3:24 pm. | Tags: Grace Vah, Victoria Mohn, Memorial Park Cemetery, Bethel Assembly Of God, Liberia, Gerald Vah, Whitewater Junction, Longview Park

Print Email Share

Sponsored Links