Woman drowns at Schoodic Point Michigan sightseer slips, falls in water

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK – A woman sightseeing on the rocks in the Schoodic Point area of the national park fell into the water and drowned Friday despite efforts from her daughter to save her.

Faith Wise, 56, of Trufant, Mich., was visiting the area near the parking lot at the point with two daughters when the accident occurred at about 2:20 p.m. Friday.

According to Park Ranger Ed Pontbriand, Wise had walked onto some rocks at the point and was holding a small dog with one hand while speaking to a friend on a cell phone she was holding in the other.

“She was holding the cell phone in the air trying to get the friend to listen to the waves,” Pontbriand said. “There are very slippery rocks there where the tide had gone out. She slipped and fell and, just like on a slide, she slid into the water.”

The tide pulled her away from the shore. Wise’s daughter Stephanie, 23, reportedly saw her mother go into the water and went in after her in an attempt to save her, but was unable to reach Wise. A bystander, Ryan Davis of Bangor, had to pull Stephanie Wise out, Pontbriand said.

The dog Faith Wise was holding, a small, 3-year-old poodle, also went into the water, according to Sgt. Marlowe Sonksen of the Maine Marine Patrol. The dog stayed with Wise in the water and also was lost, he said.

The U.S. Coast Guard dispatched a 41-foot boat, which was joined at the scene by several local fishing boats. Officers on board the Coast Guard vessel pulled Faith Wise from the water and crew members performed CPR on her all the way to the Winter Harbor dock, Pontbriand said.

Wise was transferred to a County Ambulance where a crew continued efforts to revive her, but it was too late, he said.