Posted on 01/27/2026 9:05:59 PM PST by Governor Dinwiddie
BONHAM, Texas (AP) — Three brothers — ages 6, 8 and 9 — died in Texas during the massive winter storm gripping the U.S. after falling through an icy pond across the street from a house where they were staying, authorities said Tuesday.
The brothers fell into a private pond Monday north of Bonham, a rural community of about 10,000 people near the Oklahoma border, the Fannin County Sheriff's Office said. First responders and a neighbor pulled the two older boys from the water and the youngest sibling was recovered after an extensive search of the pond, according to the sheriff.
Their mother, Cheyenne Hangaman, told FOX 4 television station that she tried to save her sons after their sister ran to tell her they were in the pond. She and her children had been staying at a friend's house across the street from the pond.
“I start running towards the pond and I jump in and I try to save them — also trying to keep myself alive because the water is freezing,” said Hangaman, who added that her body locked up as soon as she jumped in.
“I couldn’t really hardly do anything,” Hangaman told the television station. “It was just one of me and three of them. And they were all needing me at one time and I couldn’t — I just couldn’t save them.”
Hangaman said a man who came to help was able to throw a rope to her to get her out of the pond.
All three of the boys were in elementary school in the Bonham Independent School District, which had canceled classes Monday because of the frigid weather that has swept across much of the U.S. The school district was also closed Tuesday due to extreme weather conditions, including
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Amen.
Loss of a child is a parent’s worse nightmare.
Helplessness in the face of unfolding tragedy an unspeakable burden.
Unless the mother has great spiritual and emotional resource I fear a “reunion suicide” in the offing.
At 8 years old my brother and I and friends would play on the frozen over Susquehanna River near Binghampton, NY. And we would play chicken with the railroad engines at the rail yard.
Mom and dad never knew. Not that they didn’t love us, but I actually don’t think they were concerned about what we were doing.
It’s always the innocents..
God have mercy
Sadly, the deaths and the mother’s inability to save the kids may be related to this: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-11172054
Lack of parent supervison led to their deaths.
Sad these kids died, but it could have been prevented. Kids need to be watched at all times.
Oh yes. What a tragedy.
Lord have mercy🙏🏻✝️
I worked in the North Sea for a few years and we had survival training. If you go in the water without a survival suit you useful function of your limbs and legs is just a few minutes about 3 to 5 minutes. They become useless as your body routes all blood to internal organs and brain to keep you alive. It is a painless death. You will just go to sleep and die. If in a survival suit you can last a few hours but will not be capable of assisting your rescuers. You will be almost dead. They will save you.
I loved the North Sea. Her rules were exact. “I can kill you if I wish.” I did send a wave over your drilling rig in excess of 150 feet. It did happen. I thought we were going down just like which happened to the “Alexander Kielland” where 113 of my mates went down. My rig did not go down in the separate storm. The Kielland did.
I miss the insanity of working the North Sea with my mates from Norway, England, Scotland, Germany and the the Baltics. When we all got to town in Stavanger it was Party Time and we did.
I remember a Scottish show on TV from a few years back about the oil industry in a little Scottish coastal town. I can't remember the name of the show. I'd sure like to see that show again.
Lord I hope not.
I can’t swim.
I won’t step into water past my knees.
Lots of my fellow hillbillies swim in ponds and rivers but I stick with the cricks.
When I was a kid my mom insisted on beach vacations and I hated them.
My dad pulled me out very deep on a raft at VA Beach one time and I’m pretty sure that’s why I’m still terrified of deep water.
Recurring nightmares for years.
I get twitchy driving over rivers on a bridge.
Just all the nopes ever noped, here.
I like living g 1600’ above sea level and a full uphill mile from the river.
"But Jesus said,An insight: Where there is no sin imputed (see Rom. 4:15, 5:13)), in God's estimate of one to be of developmental age in progressive behavioral maturity held accountable to Him regarding the law of sin and death, but not under judgment to Hell as a consequence.Suffer* little children**, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.'" (Mt. 19:14 AV; cf. Mk. 10:14, Lk. 18:16).=========
Note:
* ἀφίημι (aphiēmi, pronounced af-ee'-ay-mee) permit them, send them
** παιδίον (paidion, pronounced pahee-dee'-on; half-grown immature but trainable child
But, even though an icy one, not as painful as others ways might be, they have paid the penalty of sin, as we all shall, regenerated or not, as required even of the Incarnate God Jesus of Nazareth, now the First-Born from the province of death, now living bodily at the right hand of His Father of Lights, where these boys must certainly be together with Him.
Their parents and kin should not weep for them, but be glad, for their children's access to righteousness and peace is fulfilled, not o ever worry about it again), but they may be sad for losing their precious companionship in this while.But they should at the same time rejoice, for The Mighty God has taken up responsibility for them forever, thus leaving them to thank Him and apply their efforts to serve Him, by first trusting His Son as their Lord, Master and Messiah for their own gift of everlasting Life.
For the reader: Are you fully persuaded that God is Who He Is now, Was then, and Ever Shall Be, Who can and will fulfill all the promises He has for you?
Heartbreaking. :(
Amazing story. I have read a lot of stories about the North Sea, and I have to say you are one brave soul. As you stated, there are rules, and from what I’ve read breaking those rules comes with immediate (and often extreme) consequences.
On the wave, how do the minds of the workers on those rigs deal with the visual of a rogue wave that hit? I’ve heard stories from sailors in the Southern Ocean (also another very dangerous sea),and they seem like nightmare fuel.
Brave man. God bless.
“Lack of parent supervison led to their deaths.”
I’d say our current culture had more to do with the deaths than parent supervision.
I recall my childhood years and running around with others my age in the 9 year old bracket. We did everything without parent supervision. It’s what leads to rugged individualism that helped make America great.
As kids we had much more common sense than the kids of today, or so it seems. Such as we knew better than to walk on thin ice. We knew pointing a gun at someone for fun and pulling the trigger was wrong. Kids of the 50’s and 60’s were not watched like hawks and we all made it.
No they don’t. They need to be trained in what to stay away from but kids, especially boys need to be able to roam, play, get muddy, fight, wrestle and romp around.
“Kids need to be watched at all times.”
Helicopter parents are so woke. When their kids are adults they’ll be delicate doilies, the brunt of co-workers’ jokes, and non-productive in society.
Most of us here here grew up playing all day long without any parent standing by. That included swinging on vines over swimming holes and bicycling throughout the county.
So horrible.
“Lack of parent supervison led to their deaths.
Sad these kids died, but it could have been prevented. Kids need to be watched at all times.”
When I was that age, we would do a lot of things our folks never imagined we’d be doing - but we also had some common sense and “tested the waters’ before taking the leaps...used to be parents taught their kids to think about dangers.
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