A Prospect man died Friday night while swimming in the Atlantic Ocean with his son, who was rescued by his mother.

Jessica White of Prospect said she and her nephews were playing with water guns on the beach while on vacation in Ocean City, Md., just after 8 p.m. July 16 when her son Joshua, 7, who had entered the water with his father, Joshua, 33, began shouting to her for help.

“I looked up and I saw (my son's) boogie board go flying,” Jessica said. “He said he needed help, that he couldn't get out.”

She immediately jumped into the water and swam to her son, grabbed him and began trying to push him toward the shore.

The strong current made progress tough.

“I'd swim a couple feet and get dragged out a couple feet,” she recalled. “My son said 'Mom, you've got to get Dad.'”

Jessica turned around to shout to her husband to get out of the water.

“He was laying on his back and waving his arms,” she said.

With no one else around to help, Jessica made sure her boy got out of the water and returned to her husband.

“He was purple,” she said. “I grabbed him and started breathing into his mouth but the waves were coming over us.”

Her sister's boyfriend arrived on the scene along with three male strangers, who dragged the unconscious White onto the sand.

The men began administering CPR, but White never responded or regained consciousness.

“They wouldn't let me near him. I was on the beach freaking out,” Jessica said. “They don't know if it was cardiac arrest or if he drowned.”

An ambulance took White to the hospital, but when his wife arrived, doctors explained they had pronounced him dead.

“We wanted to go on vacation with the kids before the summer was over,” a stricken Jessica said. “We wanted to make memories with them.”

The family, which also includes a 9-year-old daughter and 4-month-old son, returned home the next morning.

Jessica said she does not know what she will do without her husband.

“I'll miss his funny attitude,” she said. “He was the life of the party. He was a character all right.”

She stressed the family's appreciation for those who donated to a fund to help transport Joshua back home from Ocean City.

“It's been a great help for us,” she said. “Thank you.”

Spencer D. Geibel Funeral Home and Cremation Services in Butler was scheduled to retrieve White's body and bring him home Wednesday.

Jessica said her son refuses to remove the ball cap his father wore in Ocean City, and he has spent the majority of his time since the accident in the family's swimming pool.

“I'm thinking it's his coping mechanism,” she said. “He's in the water and he feels like he's with his dad.”

She said her daughter has been the strongest of the family members in the wake of the tragedy.

Her son undoubtedly relives the incident again and again, she said. “He breaks down at some points and cries,” Jessica said.

She vows to never return to the beach again.

“I won't set foot in the ocean anymore or let my kids go there,” Jessica said.

Emergency responders reported that White was nearly 100 yards from the shore when they arrived at the beach, according to a July 17 article in Ocean City Today.

The article said the incident occurred in the area of 19th Street and that White was transported to Tidal Health Peninsula Regional Hospital in Salisbury, Md.

Jessica White said her husband cared for the couple's three children while she worked at a local beer distributor.

She asks that donations to bring Joshua White home and hold a funeral be sent directly to Spencer D. Geibel Funeral Home & Cremation Services at 140 New Castle Rd., Butler, PA 16001. Geibel said donors can call the funeral home to contribute using a credit or debit card or bring in cash or send a check with “Joshua White” in the note section.

Friends will be received from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at Spencer D. Geibel Funeral Home. A prayer service will immediately follow in the funeral home.