Friends, classmates, family members remember Tyler Buczek

PORT WASHINGTON — Funeral services were held Wednesday, September 12th at Grafton High School for 15-year-old Tyler Buczek, the teen who disappeared after swimming with friends in Lake Michigan. 

Buczek, who would have been a freshman this school year, was swimming with friends on Sunday, September 2nd when he disappeared just east of the filtration plant in Port Washington.

Buczek's body was recovered around noon on Thursday, September 6th. Port Washington Fire Department divers made the recovery about 200 yards off shore from the Water Treatment Plant — near where Buczek was last seen.

Buczek served as the quarterback for Port Washington High School’s freshman football team. Friends say he was valedictorian for last year’s eighth-grade class at Thomas Jefferson Middle School.

"Two weeks before he died, I saw him alive, and now he's dead. It's hard to take. He had a lot going for him. He was in a lot of sports and he was in a lot of upper classes, and he was really smart," Port Washington High School junior Emily Mendolia-White said.

Buczek's visitation was planned for Wednesday, September 12th from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Port Washington High School -- with a funeral at 7:30 p.m. at St. Peter of Alcantara Catholic Church.

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