Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

TUKTOYAKTUK (Jun 05/98) - When 14-year-old Darryl Gruben set out on his final snowmobile hunting trip of the season, he passed his grandmother's house and called to her, "See you Nanny, when I come back."

But coming back never came.

Instead, as he travelled on a snowmobile single-file with his friends along the thin ice of Tuk harbor, his snowmachine went through the ice.

In went Darryl and his two-year-old brother, a little after midnight on May 30.

Once the machine broke through the ice, all snowmachines stopped and ran to help the two boys.

The first person there also went through the ice in an attempt to rescue the boys but was assisted by others back onto the ice.

All reports confirm Darryl was holding onto his younger brother to keep him above water.

Darryl was able to pass his brother to one of the rescuers and they were able to get the two-year-old up on the ice.

But when rescuers then turned their attention to help Darryl, he had already disappeared under water.

Rescue attempts continued by the community, firefighters and police for approximately 40 minutes before they located Darryl. CPR was performed immediately and he was moved to the Tuktoyaktuk nursing station.

Though several people made valiant efforts to revive Darryl, all attempts failed and he was pronounced dead at 1:20 a.m.

"He touched everybody in town. He touched everybody young and old and he left us in the blink of an eye," said Darryl's grandmother Helen Gruben.

"He was such a nice kid. He was always conscientious of other people."

Helen said one friend of Darryl's told her Darryl was the only boy in the his age group who never smoked or swore.

"He was always smiling," she said of Darryl, one of her 14 grandchildren. "That's how everybody remembers him."

Darryl is survived by his father Patrick, stepmother Ethel, one sister and two brothers.