WASHBURN, Tenn. — it's swimming season in Tennessee, with lots of people hitting the water to cool off.
For many, that means sunshine and tan lines, but for some, it means losing sunglasses, phones and other items in the deep water.
That was the case for one young man who lost a special item recently that belonged to his dad – who passed away two years ago.
He thought it was gone until a local diver came to the rescue.
“I started fishing at a really early age and it just grew from there,” 13-year-old Kendryx Nicley explained.
Nicley said starting at the age of 4, he grew up fishing at the lake almost every weekend. Many of his memories are with his dad.
“He was pretty happy,” Nicley shared. “He really enjoyed family time. And he really liked fishing too, when he had his time too, he would.”
But then in 2022, Kendryx’s dad passed away. One of the few items Kendryx had from his father was a fishing pole, until recently, he had a mishap at Norris Lake.
“I was on our kayaks and I paddled too fast and the wind caught the back of it and it fell off the back of the kayak,” Nicley said.
He watched it sink to the bottom, saying he thought it was gone. But then, his grandmother called Jason Hopkins.
“We don't just find lost objects,” Hopkins, a local diver, shared. “We reunite items to family members and friends who thought that their long lost treasure may never be reunited with them. And so being able to do that and offer that as a service to our community means most to me.”
Along with his partner Kedrick McKenzie, Hopkins has made a career out of finding lost items.
“Apple watches are almost as common as rocks under the water,” Hopkins detailed.
“The most important thing is knowing where the item went in. You know, feet matter underwater. So we try to get a precise location of where it went in,” McKenzie added about the diving process. “A lot of times there's no visibility and you're just down there on your hands, feeling around for it and feeling an object like, ‘Okay this feels like a phone.”
After a few minutes underwater, Hopkins found what he was looking for, reuniting Kendryx with the special item.
“To see the smile on Kendryx's face was priceless,” Hopkins explained. “Absolutely priceless.”
Still smiling, Nicley reflected on the special moment.
“We ain't got a lot of his stuff,” he said. “So it really meant a lot for me to get it back.”
Kendryx said his father's fishing pole has a permanent spot on the wall in his bedroom to make sure it stays safe.