Costa Mesa : Rites Set for Man Who Drowned in Pool Mishap

Memorial services will be held tonight and Thursday for a 26-year-old Costa Mesa man who died after trying to see how long he could hold his breath under water.

Services for Joseph H. Knowlton will be held at 7 tonight at Pacific View Memorial Park, 3500 Pacific View Drive, Newport Beach. Viewing will be from 4:30 to 10 p.m.

A memorial Mass will be said at 11 a.m. Thursday at Saints Simon and Jude Church, 20444 Magnolia St., Huntington Beach.

According to his family, Knowlton, a certified scuba diver and avid swimmer, was with friends late Friday night at a La Habra Heights home when some of them decided to see how long they could hold their breath under water in the home’s swimming pool. While timing himself under water with a wristwatch, Knowlton apparently lost consciousness. He was taken to Friendly Hills Regional Medical Center in La Habra, where he died Sunday morning.

Jim Knowlton said later that his brother, an automotive parts manager, was “a really competitive person” who liked to scuba dive at Santa Catalina Island, ride mountain bikes and ski. He said his brother always carried a piece of paper with words by Albert Einstein that read, “Try not to be a man of success but a man of value.”