Dad Who Died Saving Kids Lives During Rip Current Is Remembered by His Wife as a ‘Real Life Angel’

Ryan Jennings, a father of three who died after rescuing his children from a rip current during a family vacation in Florida, is being remembered by his wife as a devoted parent and partner.

In a heartfelt statement shared on Facebook, his wife, Emily Jennings, spoke out following his death, asking that his story be told in her own words.

“If Ryan’s story is going to be told, I want it to be in my own words,” she wrote. “More than anything, I want him to be remembered for how he lived. I hope our story inspires love, courage, and kindness.”

As PEOPLE previously reported, the Maine father died on April 1 after entering the water at Juno Beach in Palm Beach County, Fla., to save two of his children who had been caught in a rip current. He got his 12-year-old stepson to safety and kept his 9-year-old daughter above water until help arrived.

“His last gift to me was returning my children alive,” Emily previously shared, calling her husband “our hero.”

In her latest message, Emily reflected on their 12 years together, recalling how they met when she was a single mother in nursing school. She recalled that Jennings brought cookies for her son on their first date and continued to support their family in both small and significant ways.

“He just kept showing up with kind acts,” she wrote.

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She also shared that early in their relationship, after she lost her apartment in a fire, Jennings moved her and her son into his family home. The couple later settled in North Yarmouth, Maine, and expanded their family, welcoming two more children.

“Ryan’s greatest love was his children and me. He was always so proud of us,” she wrote, adding that he treated her son as his own “no matter how anyone labeled it.”

Emily described her husband as a deeply involved father who coached youth sports and maintained a home that welcomed neighborhood children. She also noted his work helping others in addiction recovery, writing that he “saved so many lives” and impacted people in his community.

In the wake of his death, a GoFundMe created to support the family has raised more than $230,000.

Emily also shared that she is pregnant with the couple’s fourth child, news they had learned shortly before the tragedy.

Reflecting on her husband’s life, she wrote, “Of course Ryan left this world in a heroic way. There was no other way for a real life angel like him to go.”

“Ryan lives on in every life he touched,” she added. “He will always be my husband, and he will always be their dad.”