Chester Co. Couple, Parents Of 6, Mourned After Drowning In Florida

DOWNINGTOWN, PA — The Chester County couple who drowned in a rip tide while they were on vacation with their six children in Florida are being mourned by their friends and family and the local community.

Brian Warter, 51, and Erica Wishard, 48, both of Downingtown, were dating each other and each had children from past relationships, friends said. Warter had two children in their teens, while Wishard had four children.

They were swimming at Hutchison Island, which is located along Florida's Atlantic coast near Port. St. Lucie, when two of their teen children got caught in a rip tide.

Warter and Wishard went out to help. The teens were able to break free, but both parents got caught up in the tide.

The Martin County Sheriff's Office said that the children tried to go back out to help their parents, but the rip tide was too dangerous and they had to return to shore.

Friends and neighbors remembered both Warter and Wishard being beautiful individuals.

"He was a wonderful neighbor," Warter's friend Lauren Aldridge told 6ABC. "Very nice guy. Very nice neighbor."

"He was warm. Very considerate. Bright man. Loved his children. Was very patient with them," another of Warter's neighbors, Susan Verdecchia, told WPTV.

Ocean rescue teams were able to located the parents and brought them back to shore, where they began CPR. but it was too late.

"Those life-saving efforts continued in the ambulance and at the hospital where doctors gave it every last effort before declaring the couple deceased," the sheriff's office said.

Funeral services for Warter and Wishard have not yet been announced.