“I Got You”: The Father Who Gave His Life to Save His Daughters From a Rip Current

For most families, a summer vacation on Florida’s Gulf Coast is supposed to create the kind of memories that are treasured for years: warm sand, salt air, photographs by the water, and long afternoons spent together under the sun.

For the Pepperman family, one day at the beach in July 2019 began much like that.

But within minutes, an ordinary family outing became a desperate fight for survival.

At the center of that fight was Frederick “Fred” Pepperman III, a 53-year-old father of four from Maryville, Tennessee.

Three of his daughters were suddenly in trouble in the Gulf of Mexico. Fred went into the water to help them.

His daughters survived.

Fred did not.

And according to his family, among the final words he spoke to one of his daughters were three words that would come to define the story of his final moments:

“I got you.”

Those words were simple. But for Fred’s family, they captured something much larger — the instinct of a father determined to protect his children, even when doing so placed his own life in danger.

A Family Vacation Turns Into an Emergency

Fred and his wife, Julie Pepperman, had built a life centered around their family.

According to Fred’s obituary, he and Julie met in 1987 and married on July 26, 1991. They eventually became parents to four daughters: Kathryn, Mallory, Olivia and Grace.

The family lived in several Southern cities before settling in Maryville, Tennessee, in 2003. Fred later helped establish Appalachian Fire Alarm Solutions, LLC.

In July 2019, the Pepperman family traveled to Florida.

On July 14, they were spending time near Seacrest on Florida’s Gulf Coast when conditions in the water suddenly became dangerous.

The youngest daughter, Grace, who was 16 at the time, became caught in a powerful current.

Her older sisters tried to help.

Instead, the situation escalated.

Olivia, then 20, and Kathryn, then 24, also became caught in the dangerous water.

What had begun with one daughter in distress had suddenly become an emergency involving several members of the family.

Fred reacted.

He went into the water.

Reports from the time describe a chaotic rescue involving family members and other people on the beach. A board was used during the rescue, and bystanders eventually helped pull people from the water.

Fred concentrated on getting his daughters to safety.

According to accounts later given by his family, Olivia was struggling badly and went beneath the surface. Fred managed to get her back up and toward flotation support.

The physical effort required was enormous.

A rip current can carry even a strong swimmer away from shore, and trying to fight the flow directly can rapidly drain a person’s strength.

Yet Fred continued trying to help his family.

One by one, his daughters made it out of immediate danger.

“Daddy, Help Me”

Among all the details remembered from that afternoon, one exchange became especially meaningful to the Pepperman family.

According to Fred’s sister-in-law, Colette James, Kathryn called out to her father for help.

“Daddy, help me.”

Fred answered:

“I got you.”

James later said those were the last words Kathryn heard her father say to her.

In another setting, the phrase might sound ordinary.

Parents say similar words every day.

They say them when helping a child learn to ride a bicycle.

They say them when carrying a frightened toddler.