A Pulaski County native lost his life as a hero Thursday in Florida, in an attempt to rescue two teenagers from drowning.
Randall Toney, 46, drowned near Navarre Beach on the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News. Toney, who was born in Somerset and previously resided there and in the Burnside area before moving to Florida, maintains family in Pulaski County.
“He is very loved, and a very missed person,” said niece Brittany Wyatt, who spoke to the Commonwealth Journal from Randall’s brother Tracey Toney’s residence in Burnside. “He always said that when he died, he wanted to die a hero.”
It appears that Randall Toney did just that. Toney and a couple of other men were on the beach — which had no lifeguards — when they noticed a pair of teenagers struggling in the water. Toney went out to help, and went about halfway out to the teenagers before disappearing from sight, said the Northwest Florida Daily News.
According to the newspaper, Toney and two of his grown children with wife Pamela (they have four altogether) were at the beach when the incident happened. Toney had stayed at the beach while the others went to eat when he spotted the teens who had disregarded “red flag” warnings of dangerous conditions at the beach, including strong rip currents.
“They (the teens) were told three times not to be in the water,” said Wyatt. “The third or fourth time, they didn’t come out. My uncle and two other adults tried to help them.”
The Florida paper noted that the 19-year-old daughter who went to the beach with Toney was eight months pregnant, and very distraught over what happened.
“She's a mess. My daughter blamed herself for leaving her dad,” Pamela Toney told the Northwest Florida Daily News. “She thought he got out there in the ocean with red flags. We found out (later) that he went out there to get two teenagers out.”
Pamela Toney added that a sheriff’s deputy told her it was the third time the teens had to be pulled out of the water just that day. They were unharmed, safely pulled out of the water by the other two men on the beach.
Wyatt said relatives in Kentucky were informed of the accident at around 9 p.m. Thursday night.
“When we first heard what happened, we thought about him having very high blood pressure, and thought that might have gotten to him,” said Wyatt. “When we first heard what happened, we were in a lot of shock.”
An Army veteran, Toney worked as a Walmart deli manager in Navarre, Florida. He first moved to that state in 1997 after living in Pulaski County all his life before that, briefly moved back here about four years ago, then back down to Navarre around a year ago. He is survived by his wife, four children, and numerous other relatives.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 17 at the chapel of the Pulaski Funeral Home, with burial will follow in the Tateville Cemetery. Visitation will be at Pulaski Funeral Home from 6-9 p.m. on Friday, July 16.
A complete obituary will be published in an edition of the Commonwealth Journal next week.
Wyatt said she and her family are proud of Toney and his actions on the beach Thursday.
“I’m sure he would have done it for anybody,” said Wyatt. “We’re sad because of the loss, but it gives us closure that he died the way he said he wanted to.”
•••
The Northwest Florida Daily News contributed to this story.
