UPDATE: Edmund Adams’ body was recovered around 6 a.m. Friday about 50 yards from where he disappeared, Mike Haley with the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office confirms.
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – Friends gathered in the French Quarter Thursday to say prayers and shed tears for Edmund Adams, the man believed to have drowned in the Bogue Chitto River Wednesday.
Friends remember Adams as a man who was loved by many who easily made friends.
“He had one of those million-kilowatt smiles,” Lui Caleon, a close friend of Adams, said.
A smile many will miss.
“He’s gotten lots of people through everything he’s gone through, and I just wish I could get him through this.”
Adams went missing while tubing with friends along the Bogue Chitto River Wednesday near the community of Isabel in Washington Parish. Washington Parish Sheriff Office officials said they believe he drowned.
Adams friends stated he tubed many times before, so the news of his disappearance is hard to take.
“He’s gone frequently. He can swim and it just happened so abruptly,” Caleon said.
Caleon stated Adams loved New Orleans.
“He was a New Orleans boy, and it’s important people know that was his core,” Caleon described.
Adams gave back to his community, volunteering with the NO/AIDS Task Force.
“He’s the king of the selfie. He always had his camera in hand and was ready to party, but he was also an incredible volunteer who was ready to work first, then to have a good time,” Michael Weber, Special Events Coordinator, NO/AIDS Task Force, said.
Friends lit candles at his prayer service to remember the brightness dimmed too soon.
“This world is a much sadder place without him,” Caleon exclaimed.
“We’re going to miss him. He was a wonderful, wonderful man,” Weber stated.
Washington Parish Sheriff’s deputies searched the waters of the Bogue Chitto River again on Thursday. Deputies did not recover Adams’ body. Deputies will be back out to search again Friday morning.