A funeral is scheduled Sunday in Orlando for Michael Pirie, the Ocoee 18-year-old who died while trying to rescue his buddy from a North Georgia cave last week.
The man he was trying to save, Grant Lockenbach, 20 of DeLand, also died. Both were students at the University of Florida and were on a weekend caving excursion with UF's Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Pirie graduated last year from Lake Highland Prep in Orlando, and that's where his funeral will be.
The service is at 2 p.m. in the Bourne Chapel on the school's Charles Clayton Campus. That's at the corner of Mills Avenue and Woodward Street.
The school advised people to park at the main campus and ride shuttle buses to the chapel.
For those unable to attend, the service is to be livestreamed on the school's website, http://www.lhps.org.
A visitation for Pirie is scheduled tomorrow from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Baldwin-Fairchild Funeral Home, Lake Ivanhoe.
Pirie died Saturday. He was one of 10 UF students exploring caves in the Crockford Pigeon Wildlife Management Area in northwest Georgia when a backpack fell down a 125-foot shaft with a waterfall.
Lockenbach, an experienced rappeller, dropped a rope into the hole and cascading water and began climbing down but got tangled and called for help.
Pirie then began climbing down the same rope.
Would-be rescuers found their bodies, dangling from the rope, in the waterfall.
Authorities said they almost certainly died of hypothermia.
The cave is a constant 50 to 60 degrees and the water was from snowmelt.
Pirie's parents both teach at Lake Highland Prep. His grandparents work there as substitute teachers. His older sister graduated from there and a younger sister is a student.
Source: Orlando Sentinel
