Swimmer dies at DeGray Lake

A Gurdon man died at DeGray Lake after his oxygen machine reportedly stopped working while he went for a brief swim.

It was shortly after 5:30 p.m. Saturday, July 20, 2024, when authorities were called to Alpine Ridge, near Amity, for a 911 report of a man who had quit breathing because his oxygen machine had quit working while he was in the lake, according to a report filed recently at the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

Larry Lee Covington, 73, of Gurdon, succumbed at the scene.

Covington, who used an oxygen machine, reportedly entered the lake from a barge “but started to feel bad,” witnesses told authorities. Covington had been on the barge with three other adults approximately his age.

Noticing that Covington was struggling to keep afloat, those aboard the barge were able to assist him to the side of the vessel, but by that point he was unresponsive, the report states. The witnesses tried to get a life jacket on Covington to keep his head above water but were unsuccessful. They also tried giving him oxygen but a low battery wouldn’t allow the machine to function.

A game warden and sheriff’s deputy who arrived at the scene reportedly pulled Covington from the water and into a boat for transport to a nearby ramp where an ambulance was waiting. He was pronounced deceased at the scene.