Falls Park drowning stirs disbelief for students, faculty connected to Wallace family

Article by: Trent Opstedahl and Megan Card

University of South Dakota students and faculty were in shock at the drowning death of Vermillion High School sophomore Madison Wallace, 16, whose father, Jay Wallace, is a graduate teaching assistant and instructor in the university’s Fine Arts department.

Madison Wallace was at Falls Park in Sioux Falls having a picnic with her family the afternoon of March 15, when she rushed into the Big Sioux River to attempt to rescue her 6-year-old brother Garrett Wallace from the water, said the message left on the Madison Wallace Fund website.

Witness 28-year-old Lyle Eagletail of Sioux Falls attempted to help Madison Wallace rescue her brother, and dived into the water as well, reported the Argus Leader.

Garrett Wallace emerged from the river unharmed.

Madison Wallace’s body was recovered in the Big Sioux River around 1:30 p.m March 15. Emergency crews found Eagletail’s body shortly before 2 p.m. March 16.

As a crisis team at Vermillion High School assisted students in coping with the death of their fellow classmate, students at USD who have been in class with or been taught by Jay Wallace were in disbelief by the death.

Junior Ethan Domky said he was told by a friend the victims’ connection to Jay Wallace, who he knew from classes they shared together. Domky said after hearing the news, he was taken aback and retreated to the Fine Arts painting studio where he worked until 2 a.m.

“I felt something like this couldn’t happen, so I checked online and then it was real,” he said. “I just saw him on Wednesday and everything was so good. It’s surreal.”

Domky said Jay Wallace, a father of six, is a great guy and “you could tell he’s a family man.”

Fifth-year Kaia Nowatski, an art major with a specialization in ceramics, reiterated Domky’s sentiment, that Jay Wallace is a wonderful guy who loves his family and would do “anything for anybody.” She said she could not believe what the Wallace family must be going through.

“It baffles me something this tragic could happen to someone so nice. (Jay Wallace) talked about his family a lot,” Nowatski said. “You could tell he was a proud dad.”

Sophomore Sophia Wemers took a lithograph class with Jay Wallace and said he is a great guy, and it is unfair that bad things happen to good people.

Chelsey Wood, head of the painting department, said she didn’t feel comfortable talking about the details of the accident or her reaction to the news, but that Jay Wallace is “one of the kindest, most caring, most hardworking people I know.”

Madison Wallace’s funeral service will take place 7 p.m. March 19 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Vermillion. Visitation will begin at 5 p.m.

Her final funeral rites and burial will be in Orem, Utah.

A fund has also been set up to help Madison Wallace’s family. Donations can be made to the Madison Wallace Family Fund at any local Wells Fargo bank. Donations can also be made online at www.madisonwallacefund.com.