Friends and Family members of 10-year-old Caleb Schwab, who was killed on a water slide at Schlitterbahn Water Park on Sunday, August 7, gathered on Friday at LifeMission Church, located at 16111 S. Lone Elm Rd., in Olathe, Kansas, to remember Caleb’s contagious spirit and celebrate his life.
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Caleb’s dad, Scott Schwab, who represents the 49th District in Kansas, spoke to the more than 1,000 mourners who arrived to pay their respects to his son on Friday. Schwab spoke highly of Caleb, recalling his loving heart and wonderful sense of humor. Caleb, who was the second-oldest of four sons (his brothers’ names are Issac, Alex and Nathan), only lived a short life, but made a huge impact on those around him, before he was decapitated on the Verrück (German for “crazy” or “insane,”), which is known as the world’s tallest water slide, WDAF-TV reports.
During his visitation on Thursday night, so many people arrived to mourn the baseball player that the family ended up having to turn away more than 500 visitors.
Caleb attended Heritage Christian school with his brothers, and was preparing to start fifth grade this week. He played baseball for the Mudcats in Lenexa and soccer for the Sporting Blue Valley rec league. Schwab’s teammates from both teams arrived at the memorial service wearing their uniforms, and were recognized during the service.
Funeral held for 10-year-old Caleb Schwab killed on water slide https://t.co/qjnfXpexYU pic.twitter.com/sWv2VrOnkK
— People Magazine (@people) August 12, 2016
“Caleb’s friends, thank you for helping shape his character and building memories that we will cherish forever. You guys are awesome,” Schwab said of Caleb’s friends. “If it wasn’t for a lot of you guys, you Mudcats and Orange Crush and Thunder, we’d have less trophies in the basement, but you guys were a part of his life and you guys were great and a lot of the heartache that we burden is knowing that you’re hurting too.”
He added: “And again, like I said last night to most of you, our goal is to get to a place where we think of Caleb and we have joy, we don’t have sorrow for what we lost. And we’re committed to getting there together.”
Scott also took the opportunity to recognize each of his sons.
‘Worst day of her life’: Injured woman riding in raft with Caleb Schwab https://t.co/BkvBDIOTGp pic.twitter.com/NhqGZR8PiU
— People Magazine (@people) August 12, 2016
“Isaac who’s playing, may be napping actually. Talk about a short time that he had with Caleb, but there wasn’t a moment wasted,” he said. “Alex who lost a big brother who was supposed to help him on the bus this year, I’m proud of the way he’s handling this. Nathan, not the way I wanted you to enter your manhood, but you’ve done very well. I am humbled to call you my son.”
“When my kids were born, Nathan was my pleasure, Caleb was my joy, Alex was my delight and Isaac was my treasure. We’ve lost some joy. We’ve lost Caleb, my joy. But we’ll get it back.”
According to People Magazine, before walking off the stage, Scott placed a kiss on his son’s picture , and then asked Caleb’s teammates to join him in a huddle and a chant for Caleb. Along with his father and brothers, Caleb is survived by his mother, Michele Schwab.
[Photo via Shutterstock]
