The George family, of Maynard, is grateful to be together to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, after a canoe accident on the Volga River a few years ago, nearly caused serious injury to Octavia. The family is pictured in their Maynard home. In front, from left: Octavia and Isaac; and in back, Julie and Nigel. (Janell Bradley photo)
Thankful for family and 'Friends'
Janell Bradley
Contributing Writer
Even though she has very little memory of a canoeing accident on the Volga River, Octavia George's parents, Nigle and Julie George, will never forget one particular Sunday in July 2008.
The family, then living in Fayette, planned an outing on the river with a few good friends who would travel in kayaks alongside Nigel and Julie in a canoe with their two young children, Isacc, age 3 and Octavia, age 4. All had been canoeing on the Volga River previously. Even so, the Georges took care to plan for any contingencies before setting out.
"Everyone was wearing a life preserver, and we had a cell phone within our group," Nigel recalled.
They put into the river at the Main Street bridge in Fayette, late on that Sunday morning. Julie rememberws it was a hot, sweltering July day. As the group of one canoe and three kayaks paddled downriver, Upper Iowa University professor Kata McCarville eventually took her kayak out and said she'd meet the group at their agreed take-out point at Albany Bridge, within the Volga River Recreation Area.
As the group continued downstream, Julie says she and Nigel decided to slow up and wait for the kayakers, who had fallen behind. As they did so, their canoe turned sideways in the river as they watched for their friends behind them. As the canoe drifted toward a downed tree, the river's current tugged at the canoe, and with little warning, the force caused the canoe to tip and then lodge upside down against the tree.