From the Chicago Daily Herald
Original publication date: June 18, 2011

Rockton, Ill. — Tracy Wilson knew her 17-year-old son planned to go fishing at Rock Cut State Park with some friends after football practice.

But when Wilson, a 911 dispatcher, received a call Tuesday saying rescuers were needed at a nearby state park because a canoe had capsized, it didn’t occur to her to worry about her son, who was a strong swimmer.

Then she got a call on her cellphone.

Mitchel Krause, her son, was in the canoe that tipped over on Pierce Lake and was unable to make it back to shore. He was under water for 30 to 40 minutes before rescuers recovered his body and was pronounced dead an hour later at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford.

“Right now is just a nightmare,” Wilson told the Rockford Register Star for a story published Friday.

She said that, as a dispatcher, she couldn’t even wonder who was in peril.

Krause had learned to swim at a young age, and an autopsy showed no physical injuries, so it’s unclear why her son could not get back to shore, Wilson said.

Krause, who had just finished his junior year at Hononegah High School, was family-oriented and worked hard in all areas of his life, his mother said.

“Mitchel gave his all for everything he did, whether it was taking out the trash or helping a friend with a breakup,” she said. “He was willing to help anyone at any time. He never did anything halfhearted. … He was afraid for people to be disappointed in him, so he always tried to do his best.”

Tom Polaski, who coached Krause on Hononegah’s track team for the past three years and the football team last season, said he was upset by the news.

“When you see these kids mature over the course of the four years and you work closely with them … this is going to be a tough one to deal with because of who he was,” Polaski said.

Wilson, a former firefighter and emergency medical technician, said she knows the emergency workers did their best to save her son.

“I have been on that side, and I know every person there gave 100 percent,” Wilson said. “Everyone was doing their all.”

Related Link:

• “9-1-1 dispatcher handles  call on son’s drowning,” Chicago Tribune.  

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