THOMASVILLE — Tearfully, 12-year-old Jaylen Walden recalled how his godfather, the late Bruce Maynor Jr., saved him from drowning two years ago in the Gulf of Mexico off St. George Island, Florida, during a beach family outing.

Walden, then 10 years old, was playing in the gulf.

“I guess I got caught in the current,” he said. “I guess it carried me out in the water.”

Walden, through tears, said he screamed for help. Maynor rescued him, then was swept out to sea.

The boy recalled the event Tuesday as U.S. Rep. Austin Scott (R-Tifton) presented the Carnegie Medal to the Maynor family.

On April 30, 2017, Maynor saved Walden’s life, then was swept by waves in deeper water. Maynor’s body was recovered three days later in the gulf.

Scott said Maynor’s untimely death lives on not only through his family, friends and the Thomasville community, but in Franklin County, Florida, and St. George Island.

“In November 2017, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and county officials honored his memory and heroism with a new beach warning sign at the end of the St. George Island bridge,” Scott said. “Alongside the safety information is an image of Bruce and the inscription: ‘No greater love than a man who’ll lose his life for another.’ “

“It was tough,” said Jouvonie Walden, Jaylen’s mother, who described Maynor as a role model. She said she misses his smile, laughter and interaction with children.

Maynor’s mother, Angela Smith, described the Carnegie Medal as “heartfelt and a great honor.”

“The award is something that will live on,” she said, adding that Maynor’s family will always cherish the medal.

Mayor’s widow, Amber Maynor, who was on the beach the day of the drowning, recalled the drowning.

“By the time we got there, he was gone,” she said.

She is grateful for the Carnegie Medal.

Maynor said her 29-year-old husband gave his life for a child and showed great strength.

At the end of the medal presentation ceremony at the Thomasville-Thomas County Chamber of Commerce, the family and audience observed a moment of silence for Maynor.

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820