3 young lives lost in two separate Labor Day weekend drownings
SPRING LAKE PARK, Minn. — Families are grieving the loss of three young lives after two separate drownings over Labor Day weekend.
Joselyn Sanchez Rosas, 11, was found in Minneapolis' Lake Nokomis Saturday evening. And Kyree Shaw and Grace Rhine, both 18, were found Friday in Lipsett Lake in Rusk, Wisconsin.
"[Kyree] just, I mean, could make anybody laugh. Even if he was annoying me or my brother, you just knew that he cared so deeply about everybody that he came across. He didn't have a bad thing to say about anyone," said Shaw's sister, Marissa Olinger.
The 18-year-old graduated from Spring Lake Park High School this spring where he played basketball and football. Olinger said she just visited her brother at the University of Wisconsin–Stout a few weeks ago as he started his college football career. She said he came home for the Labor Day weekend and went to a friend's cabin in Wisconsin.
"He was going to start classes on Tuesday and go into industrial design," she said.
On Friday, authorities said he drowned in Lipsett Lake. Recent Blaine High School graduate Grace Rhine also died. A third person was hospitalized and later released. Investigators said strong wind and choppy waters likely contributed to their deaths.
"It's very tragic, just the whole thing in general. But just to know we lost two young people from neighboring communities, the same community if you ask me, and just kind of how that reverberates in the area," Olinger said.
Meanwhile, the family of Joselyn Sanchez Rosas is also grieving their loss. In a GoFundMe, they wrote, "She was a beautiful soul, very loving and always kind." She was preparing to start the sixth grade.
Olinger said the support from the community has been helping them get through the sudden loss.
"It's been great to see how many people really cared about him and loved him, and to be able to have people reach out and tell us about that and help us out has been really nice," she said. "He just had the biggest heart."
Shaw's family hopes they can work with Spring Lake Park High School to develop a scholarship in his honor.
The case is being investigated by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.