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Duck boat survivor: 'My house is now haunted by silence'

Tia Coleman, who lost her husband and three children in a duck boat accident in Missouri in July, says her once busy, noisy home is now silent.
Family members surround Tia Coleman, bottom right, as she talks about how her life has been since losing her husband and children in the duck boat tragedy in Branson, Mo. (Jenna Watson/IndyStar)

INDIANAPOLIS — Tia Coleman still wakes up in the morning and expects to see her husband, Glenn, by her side. She hears the school bus approaching and has to stop herself from yelling at her boys to hurry or they'll miss the bus.

But Coleman's house is quiet now. Her three kids, Reece, 9, Evan, 7, and Arya, 1, and her husband died in a duck boat accident in Branson, Missouri, on July 19.

In her first public comments since the days just after the accident that killed nine members of her family and eight others, Coleman on Tuesday thanked the nation for their cards, gifts, notes and prayers and asked people to sign an online petition at Change.org seeking a ban of the amphibious vehicles.

Sitting in the living room of her Indianapolis home surrounded by her mother, siblings, nephews, niece, friends and attorneys, Coleman clutched a pillow bearing the faces of her lost family members. The pillow was a gift from a stranger in another state.

"My heart is broken, and my house that was once overflowing with joy and laughter is now haunted by silence," she said. "I expect to hear my baby yell out, 'Mama,' and I don't hear it. I just hear silence. My family really meant everything to me."

Coleman, whose nephew Donovan also survived the sinking, says she's now on a mission to ban duck boats, which have claimed dozens of lives since 1999.

"I'm determined to do all I can to make sure there are no more funerals of duck boat drowning victims. There's nothing that can right the wrong because I can't get them back," she said of her family. "The only thing that will make this better is that no other family will have to go through what I went through."

Coleman's sister Yelena Brackney said the national petition on Change.org calls for "Congress, the Coast Guard and all officials in positions of authority to take immediate and permanent action to ban death trap duck boats in response to the horrific events of July 19. Please join us in rallying national support to ensure that what happened to our family does not and cannot ever happen again."

Already, legislation introduced by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., would enact safety recommendations made by the National Transportation Safety Board in 2002. Senate Bill 3301 would force the duck boat industry to use only boats that meet federal safety standards. That includes removing the canopies, which can trap passengers, and making the boats more buoyant.

Three lawsuits have been filed on behalf of local victims of the duck boat sinking, though Tia Coleman is not yet a party to any lawsuit, said attorney Bob Mongeluzzi.

Coleman, who broke down in tears several times during the 30-minute news conference, said she's trying to get used to her new normal. "I never want anybody else to have to feel the pain that I feel and my family feels."

Next to her sat a baby bed filled with stuffed animals. On the mantel behind her were pictures of her smiling family. The kids' rooms have been left as they were when the family left on vacation last month. The reminders both help and hurt, Coleman said.

Seeing the toys "makes me think of my old, normal life," she said. "Sometimes I feel like (Arya) might just be taking a nap. I'll go up and get her, but she's not there."

Coleman said some days are worse than others. "I cry a lot, I pray; there are people that let me know they are praying for me, and I actually can feel the prayers."

She laughs when she thinks about a picture that comforts her. It's of her middle child, Evan, who somehow managed to slather Vaseline all over himself when she wasn't looking. "He was so shiny. I'll look at that and it will make me laugh, and it'll make me appreciate what God gave me for the time that he gave them to me."

Though raised in a Christian family, she said she didn't know how strong her faith was until she really needed it, literally through the storm on the lake and in the aftermath. "When I was out there in that water, that's all I had."

That faith and the support of her family are what hold her up now, she said.

"I have no more children, the love of my life is gone. For whatever reason, the Lord has left me here. I'm waiting to see what he has in store for me."

Follow Maureen Gilmer on Twitter: @MaureenCGilmer

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