CINCINNATI — Six years to the day after 9-year-old Kingdesmond Jennings slipped under the rushing waters of Mill Creek and drowned, his family gathered on a bright yellow bridge overlooking the now tranquil creek and remembered him.
They tied balloons to the bridge's spans and prayed.
Kingdesmond's grandfather, Terry Jones, held a picture of him as he told us about his short life.
"We called him King," he said.
Jones said his grandson was wise beyond his years, calling him an "old soul" who was often trusted to watch other younger kids.
But Kingdesmond didn't know how to swim.
"You know how children play on the side of the banks, and I guess he reached for something and just fell inside there," Jones said.
WATCH: A family hopes the untimely death of a 9-year-old leads to other lives saved
The family has called for increased access to swim lessons for low-income families around Greater Cincinnati since his death, and Jones said the recent drowning death of two autistic kids in West Chester, one in November and one in June, showed the need for water safety courses was still pressing.
At a June 8 meeting of the West Chester Board of Trustees, Amanda Ortiz spoke during public comment, calling on the town to add fences around bodies of water, and announced a partnership that would educate children about water safety.
She said the Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities (BCBDD), EmPath for Autism and the Lakota YMCA were establishing a series of water safety classes for children with disabilities who qualify.
"The program is designed to teach just very basic water safety awareness and basic survival techniques," Ortiz said.
When we reached out on Wednesday, representatives with EmPath for Autism and BCBDD acknowledged the program was being established. A representative with the Lakota YMCA said the program was "very much in the planning and development phase," but they were working with the other organizations to get it rolled out soon.
We asked Jones what he thought of that response to tragedy.
"When I saw that, that made me glad. That makes me happy," he said.
Jones said he hoped Kingdesmond's legacy would be that low-to-no-cost water safety programs could spread around the region.
"King would have loved that," he said. "He would have loved it just like me, all of us."
