Rosamae Neil Smith
April 14, 2008
Charles "Charlie" Herbert Rice Jr.
April 16, 2008
Every prayer and every scripture that Victoria and Tyrone Folse Sr. have read this past week has lead them to the point of accepting the death of their 14-year-old son, Tyrez O’Keif “Bocky” Folse.
The parents are celebrating the happiness and joy Tyrez brought to the community.
“It’s the manifestation of God, and God honors you as a person and as Son of God,” said Tyrone Sr. “Tyrez was a son of ours and he was a Son of God, too. We celebrate his life because nothing is done without the movement of God, He orchestrates it all.”
Tyrez and a friend jumped attempted to swim across the canal about 6:30 p.m. last Monday, witnesses told Houma Police. He began to tire near the center of the canal and went underwater several times, authorities reported. The other teen attempted to drag Tyrez back to shore, but lost his grip. The boy said he last saw Tyrez sinking as a tugboat passed between them, police said.
The Terrebonne and Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Offices and the U.S. Coast Guard continued to search the murky, debris-strewn waterway for days.
The Houma teen’s body was found Friday morning, about a mile from where he was last seen swimming, police said. Tyrez was laid to rest Saturday afternoon at a graveside service in Dularge Baptist Church Cemetery.
The Folse family is relying on their faith to carry them through this tragic ordeal.
Sadly, Tyrez is not the first child the family has had to say goodbye to. Just two months ago, their oldest child, Tyraneka Folse, lost her battle to cancer.
“We love them but God loves them best,” a grief-stricken Tyrone Folse said. “All of this was written in [God’s] book.”
The couple’s middle child, Tyrone Jr., is having a difficult time coping with the death of his second sibling. His father recalls saying, “You can cry and do whatever you have to. Just know they are in a better place.”
It’s a sentiment the entire Folse clan is clinging to.
Lecory Verdin, standing on the canal bank, talked about his favorite cousin. “This is a big blow to the family. It’s devastating to see one of your own lose his life.”
Verdin said he had seen Tyrez earlier Monday, doing what most average teenagers do after school: playing with friends.
“He loved playing with the other kids in the neighborhood,” Verdin said.
If Tyrez wasn’t playing basketball or football in the neighborhood, he could be found helping out a neighbor with groceries or yard work, Tyrone Sr. and Victoria Folse said. “He was a ‘happy-go-lucky’ teen who never met a stranger,” they agreed.
“We are not trying to put him on a pedestal or anything of that sort, but he enjoyed helping people and the kids in the neighborhood loved him,” Victoria Folse said. “He was such a joy to be around.”
During her agonizing wait on the banks of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal, watching as police dragged the bottom of the canal for her son’s body, Victoria Folse said people approached her with nothing but kind words about her son. It helped give her strength over the next few days as the search continued.
“Standing out by the canal, this lady came up to me and told me that her grandmother loved my son because he would go out of his way to help her with her groceries all the time,” she said. “See, that’s the type of things he did.”
Tyrone Folse Sr. said he wished he could talk to other people who don’t have the same closure and understanding of God that he and his wife have found.
“It wasn’t anybody’s fault. It was predestined to happen,” he said. “We just have to believe in God to find closure and to help us carry on.”
On Friday, the Folse’s visited Oaklawn Junior High School, where Tyrez was a student, to speak with his classmates and friends about the tragedy.
“I try to give all of his friends that I see around the neighborhood some comfort and closure,” Tyrone Folse Sr. said. “I tell them that it’s OK to cry because he was your friend, but he is in a better place. If it’s God’s will, then He will send Tyrez to them in their dreams to let them know that everything will be OK.”
Victoria and Tyrone Folse Sr. view photographs and a promotion certificate that belonged to their late son, Tyrez Jr. The 14-year-old died Monday as he attempted to swim across the Gulf Intracoastal Canal. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF
