Family mourns passing of teen, victim of Lake Michigan currents

RACINE, Wis. - The family of a 14-year-old drowning victim has issued a statement on the passing of Lily Limbert. 

It was on June 21 that the Racine County Sheriff's Office responded to North Beach in Racine. Two teens, including Limbert, were pulled from the shoreline by a strong current. It took them into deeper water and the rocks surrounding North Pier. 

Rescuers got to the two teens. One first suffered cuts and scratches. Limbert was flown to Children's Wisconsin by Flight for life. Racine County officials noted Limbert later died from her injuries.

Limbert's family shared the following message: 

"On the early morning of June 29th, 2021 my niece died peacefully in the arms of her mother while at Children’s Wisconsin. Lily will be remembered as the amazing, creative, and passionate free spirit she was. She saw beauty in everything and touched the lives of everyone she met. Our family wants to express our deepest gratitude for the community support we have received during this extremely difficult time and want to thank everyone involved in Lily's rescue, the Racine Sheriff's Department, Children's Wisconsin, and everyone who has been praying and supporting us through this. We also know that the Racine County Dive Team and nonprofits like the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project have been working hard to spread more awareness about the dangers of rip tides, water safety, and what to do if you are ever at risk of drowning. We would love for this education and awareness to become more widespread...just like we are all taught very young to Stop, Drop, and Roll in a fire, we should also be taught to Flip, Float, and Follow if you are ever in danger of drowning. We encourage everyone to advocate for this education to be added to swimming school curriculums, daycare/elementary school programming, community education, etc, and in the meantime seek out/share this information with your friends and loved ones. We would give anything to have another day with our Lily and want to do anything we can to prevent this from happening to anyone else. If anyone would like to continue to help support our family any donations to her GoFundMe are greatly appreciated. All of the donations will go towards covering her hospital bills and funeral costs. If the donated funds exceed those costs, the remaining money will be donated to Children’s Wisconsin in Lily’s name."