{"id":241432,"date":"2026-04-22T06:19:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T06:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/241432\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T06:19:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T06:19:15","slug":"windsor-locks-father-hailed-as-hero-after-dying-while-saving-son-from-rip-current-at-florida-beach-nbc-connecticut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/241432\/","title":{"rendered":"Windsor Locks father hailed as hero after dying while saving son from rip current at Florida beach \u2013 NBC Connecticut"},"content":{"rendered":"

A father from Windsor Locks is being remembered as a loving father and a hero. Jason \u201cJay\u201d DeGray, 42, drowned rescuing<\/a> his son from a rip current at a Florida beach last week, and now his coworkers and friends back in Connecticut are paying tribute to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the model of the American dad. He wanted to make sure his family was good,\u201d Johnny Bright, a co-worker, said.<\/p>\n

A family he knew very well. Bright was a close friend and co-worker of DeGray at Cutting Edge Installations in Enfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cA funny guy. Down to earth. Never wants confrontation. Always wants to see people do good,\u201d Bright said.<\/p>\n

The two installed floors together day in and day out, building more than just a working relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe tries to keep the morale high. He\u2019s a good, funny guy. He keeps the music going,\u201d Bright said.<\/p>\n

Now, there\u2019s solemn silence at work. DeGray died last Tuesday after drowning at Cocoa Beach, Florida, about an hour east of Orlando. Police said he and another woman were trying to rescue children caught in a rip current, including his 12-year-old son, who made it out safely, along with the other kids. DeGray and the woman did not make it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe saved his son so he ain\u2019t dying in vain, because he always said he would die for his kids and he truly meant that,\u201d Bright said.<\/p>\n

Cutting Edge Installations in a Facebook post<\/a> called DeGray a \u201ctrue hero\u201d and a father who always put his family first. The company\u2019s owner said he brought that same dedication to his work.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe worked hard, and he was meticulous. He did a great job, and we are sorely going to miss that,\u201d Brenda Duggan, president and owner of Cutting Edge Installations, said.<\/p>\n

Bright and the entire Cutting Edge team have been in touch with DeGray\u2019s wife and children, doing whatever they can to support the family. DeGray\u2019s funeral is set for Friday in Windsor Locks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just hope God gives them the power and the will and the strength to get through it day by day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A father from Windsor Locks is being remembered as a loving father and a hero. Jason \u201cJay\u201d DeGray,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,106743],"class_list":["post-241432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-windsor-locks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}