Almost all of them wore white, except for the grieving parents, who couldn’t believe their baby girl was gone before she got a real chance to live.
In black they wailed in the church, beside the tiny white casket that held the body of 20-month-old girl River Wilson, who had been the absolute joy of their lives until she drowned two weeks ago in a Bronx daycare center’s swimming pool.
“She enjoyed dancing, singing, laughing and playing,” River’s cousin, 14-year-old Naomi O’Boyle, read in a eulogy during little River’s funeral Wednesday at St. Helena’s Roman Catholic Church in the Bronx.
“In her short time here on earth, River accomplished more than most people do in a lifetime. She traveled to England, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Scotland and a dozen U.S. states. She was learning five languages and could count in all of them. She loved karate, gymnastics.”
Cops said young River drowned Aug. 1 in a backyard above-ground swimming pool during an apparent supervision lapse at the daycare center.
A 47-year-old woman in charge of watching the girl told police she was cooking and at some point realized she hadn’t seen the girl for about 20 minutes. She then found her in the pool, police said.
It’s not yet clear if she will be criminally charged. River’s death is still under investigation, officials said.
According to a law enforcement source, the daycare owner admits on NYPD body cam footage she was cooking and that her attention was pulled from the child and that she did not realize the girl had drowned
Relatives, meanwhile, have accused Ana’s Butterfly Garden Family Group daycare on Story Ave. of negligence and said they didn’t even realize the center had a pool.
They said the business has compounded their grief by being tight-lipped about what happened.
“When they signed up, they were completely unaware that there was a pool at the daycare center,” James Williams, the family’s lawyer, said after the funeral service.
“They found out roughly one month ago, after River had been attending the daycare for almost a year.”
River’s parents confronted the daycare owner about their safety concerns at that time, the lawyer said.
“A 1-year-old child doesn’t go unsupervised and end up in a swimming pool unless someone who was responsible for her care completely fell down on the job,” Williams said.
The church’s pastor, the Rev. Jorge Ramirez, said the family had been planning to get the girl baptized but little River died before they could make the arrangements.
“But that doesn’t mean her soul is not in the Lord’s hands,” Ramirez said.
“I was just thinking about the day she came to church. I remember, (River’s mom) Ima came to me and said, ‘Father, I am sorry for River, she’s making a lot of noise.’ And I told her she doesn’t bother me. Let her be.”
“(River) always sits down in these pews,” Rivera added. “Always greeting everyone, ‘Hi. Hi. Hi,’ and just screaming ‘Amen, Amen.’”
Williams said the family wants to be sure that no other family has to face such a tragedy.
“Unfortunately, all too late for poor River and her family,” Williams said.
With Thomas Tracy
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