Sep 16, 2008 / 00:22 am
A requiem Mass was celebrated on Monday for Thomas S. Vander Woude, a former athletic director at Christendom College who died saving his Down Syndrome son who had fallen into a septic tank.
Last week the 66-year-old’s youngest son Joseph, 20, had fallen into a septic tank at Vander Woude’s home in Prince William County. According to the Washington Post, his father jumped into the sewage-filled tank to help his son keep his head above the fouled water while Vander Woude’s wife Mary Ellen and a workman called emergency rescue workers and tried to help.
When he and his son were rescued from the tank, Vander Woude was unconscious. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
His son Joseph was hospitalized but is expected to make a full recovery.