THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 28, 1997 TAG: 9701280270
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 97 lines
Billie Boedker has only one wish.
She wants her husband's body found.
Phillip Boedker, 51, has been missing since Jan. 11, when a 17-foot hunting boat was swamped in the choppy, near-freezing waters of Currituck Sound.
The bodies of another hunter and two small boys were recovered, and the father of one of them was rescued after clinging to the boat for 14 hours.
``I know he's gone on to be with the Lord, and that the body that's out there isn't him,'' the missing man's wife said in an interview Monday at her brick home near North Battlefield Boulevard in the Greenbrier area.
``But I want that body that I touched and kissed and loved all those years to be laid to rest.''
Boedker, 48, spent much of Monday on the phone to North Carolina officials, including state Sen. Marc Basnight.
``I've just been doing some things just to make sure the search is continuing,'' she said.
Currituck County and state officials searched for the body over the weekend, using drag nets and search dogs. And Corolla's fire and rescue chief, Marshall Cherry, said the search would continue.
``We haven't given up,'' Cherry said.
In the 17 days since the disappearance of her husband of more than three decades, Billie Boedker has found solace in her religion.
``I have a very strong Christian faith,'' she said. ``I strongly believe that the Lord has a reason for taking him home.''
For the first time, Boedker recounted the events of the Saturday night she learned of the hunting tragedy.
``I went to see `Ghosts of Mississippi' with a girlfriend, and I stopped afterwards at Papa John's to get a pizza. I got one for my mother-in-law and myself and a separate one for Phillip. He liked jalapeno peppers and onions on his pizza.
``At about 7:30 or 8 o'clock, Shannon called and said that there had been an accident,'' Boedker said, referring to the wife of accident survivor Michael LaBounty Sr. of Moyock. ``I began at that point to pray. At about 9, Michael called me from the hospital and told me . . . Phillip was dead.
``The first feeling was just plain shock, and unbelief. Last year, my husband had a series of three surgeries on his heart at Duke University. I couldn't believe that after all of that, he would be taken like this. I had just told him recently that after all we had been through in 1996, 1997 was going to be a breeze. But God was ready to take him.
``The pain was so horrible I just wanted to run, run so I could get away from it.''
But soon a calm swept through her.
``Within a little while, a peace just came over me,'' she said. ``I knew then that Phillip was with the Lord.''
In the living room of the Boedker home, pictures of Phillip Boedker are all around. Some are in frames; others are still tucked neatly in photo shop envelopes. They show a smiling man who loved to take neighborhood kids hunting and fishing. ``He was a good man,'' said his 81-year-old mother, Ethel Boedker.
``The kids who hunted with Daddy had to make good grades. He had strict rules,'' said his 19-year-old daughter, Kelly, a teacher's aide at Greenbrier Intermediate School.
Billie Boedker remembered a hunting trip last fall when 13-year-old Chris Ellington bagged his first buck. His hunting mentor, Phillip Boedker, was there.
``He was more excited than Chris,'' Boedker said. ``He acted like it was his first deer. He really loved kids.''
Billie Boedker spends much of her days praying, sharing her faith with others and thumbing through myriad memories.
``We've found some rolls of film that hadn't been developed yet,'' Boedker said. ``Those were special gifts, I believe, from God.''
And in the face of such a horrible tragedy, she remains unshaken.
``This has made me realize how short this life is, and how important it is to have a relationship with God. I've had a number of opportunities to share my faith since everything has happened. I can honestly say that like the `Footprints in the Sand,' God has literally picked me up, and carried me through all of this.''
Boedker praised state and county personnel and the scores of volunteers who have combed the waters and tiny islands of the sound, including the Currituck County emergency services director.
``People like Donnie Beacham have done everything they can do. But there have to be other resources that Donnie and the people who are searching can use.''
Beacham sought to quell speculation that the recovery effort has ended.
``The search has not been called off,'' he said Monday evening. ``It has been reduced in size.
``We've covered about 90 percent of that water out there, but there's a chance we missed something,'' Beacham said. ``It's a big sound. We want to find the body to bring closure for the family.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
[Searchers, left, have been looking for Phillip Boedker, right,
since Jan. 11, when a boat was swamped in near-freezing waters
during a hunting trip. ... Billie Boedker, far right, hopes the
searchers will push on...]
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT BOATING DROWNING MISSING PERSON
HUNTING ACCIDENT NORTH CAROLINA