Joshua J. White, 33, of Prospect, died Friday in Ocean City, Md. while swimming in the Atlantic Ocean with his son, Joshua, 7, who is pictured with his father. His son was rescued by his mother and White's wife, Jessica White.

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.

Read more in Wednesday's Butler Eagle.