Loren Earl Hazen died helping to save Andrew J. Killingsworth from drowning, Rapid City, Michigan, July 17, 2011. While wading atop the sandbar at Torch Lake, Killingsworth, 18, and three friends, including Hazen, 21, college student, intended to swim across a 10-foot-deep depression at a point about 450 feet from the closer bank. Hazen crossed the depression without difficulty, but Killingsworth began to struggle in the deeper water. He called for help. After attempts to save him by the other two friends, Hazen re-entered the deeper water and swam to Killingsworth. Killingsworth grasped Hazen and pushed off him, enabling him to reach wadable water, but Hazen submerged and did not surface. Responding rescue personnel removed him from the water shortly and attempted without success to revive him. He had drowned. Killingsworth and the others were returned to the bank by boaters. They required hospital treatment and recovered.
84256 – 9577
84256-9577Obituary
Loren E. Hazen, 21, of Kalkaska, Mich., died on July 17, 2011, while trying to help a struggling friend during a long swim in Torch Lake in Rapid City, Mich. He was born on July 19, 1989, in Big Rapids to Lawrence A. Hazen and Barbara J. (Cool) Woodhams.
Hazen graduated in 2007 from Kalkaska High School. Two years later, he graduated in 2009 from Alpine Community College as an apprentice lineman. He was attending Baker College in Cadillac, Mich., where he was studying to become a paramedic.
Hazen was a volunteer firefighter for Boardman Township Fire Department Station #9. He worked at Shetler Dairy and Ken Allen Trucking.
Hazen was an accomplished barrel rider who loved horses. He was a member of the International Barrel Racing Association and the National Ropers Association. He was a member of the Kalkaska Church of Christ.
(Edited from an obituary in the Travers City Record-Eagle, July 21, 2011.)