Boy, 18 Months, Drowns at Family Reunion in Oak Park

As fire officials called for heightened water safety Monday, the parents of an 18-month-old boy who drowned over the weekend remembered an energetic toddler who dazzled everyone with his bright smile.

A day after Colton Clarke drowned at a family reunion in Oak Park, his parents said their lives had revolved around their only child.

“He was very curious, and when he got bored, he’d get in trouble,” his tearful father, Rusty Clarke, said outside the family’s Camarillo apartment Monday. “You feel like your future’s been taken away.”

Colton died Sunday night after wandering outside away from the party, at which two dozen members of the Clarke family--half of them children--had spent the day reminiscing.

The boy, who witnesses said was out of sight for only a few minutes, was found floating face down under the solar heating cover in his aunt’s backyard swimming pool. His father, who last saw his son in the kitchen munching on ice cubes, had gone outdoors to look for him.

Two family members, one of them a nurse, struggled to revive the boy with CPR until paramedics arrived. They worked as the stunned parents held each other, but it was too late.

Colton was taken to Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, where he was pronounced dead at 7:55 p.m. The death was listed as an accidental drowning.

“They worked on him for an hour but never got him back,” said Craig Stevens, senior deputy coroner for the county medical examiner.

The tragedy comes as the Ventura County Fire Department has launched a campaign on the dangers of letting children play near water unsupervised. Called Water Awareness Training for Children in the Home, or WATCH, the program is to begin this summer with the release of informational leaflets.

The leaflets urge parents to talk to their children about water safety. They also list statistics illustrating the hazards: 77% of child drowning victims have been missing from sight for five minutes or less; 65% of accidents occur in a pool owned by the child’s family.

“Kids are naturally attracted to water,” said Sandi Wells, a Fire Department spokeswoman. “It feels good, and being bathed by your parents is a positive experience. But when children wander alone near water, they don’t have any concept of the inherent danger.”

Sunday started well for the Clarkes, practicing Mormons who grew up in Thousand Oaks. Five brothers and sisters, their families and their parents showed up for the reunion at a sister’s house on Maple Grove Street in Oak Park. Some came from as far as Utah.

Family members said they do not know how the boy got in the pool. A wrought-iron gate that encircles the pool was shut at the time, they said.

Rusty Clarke, 28, and his wife, Cindy, 24, said Monday their religion and support from family members is helping them cope. The couple also recalled the joys of raising their son.

He woke up every day and asked his parents to put on music from “The Jungle Book.” Then he’d delight his parents with a knee-bending dance he’d invented.

At other times, he would pick up the phone and start dialing. Once, a police officer showed up after Colton dialed 911.

And then there was his smile.

“He had a knack for waiting until someone looked at him,” said his grandfather, Richard Clarke. “And then he’d give them a smile that knocked them over.”

Said his mother:

“Just to have him for that short period of time makes everything worth it.”