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Mother Releases Balloons In Memory Of Son

Last updated on Wednesday, December 28, 2011

(Columbus) - One year after a Columbus teen fell through an icy pond and drowned, his mother gathered his family and friends to release balloons on his memory, Thursday.

16-year-old Derek Lodestein and his two friends were playing around on an icy Terrace Lake in Columbus when they fell in. Lodestein's friends were rescued, but he went under. After hours of searching, divers pulled his body out.

"He was an amazing student, good son friend, good son," said Lodestein's mother Linda Gotkin.

On this one year anniversary, Gotkin said she wanted to do something positive to lift her spirits and to remember the good times with her son. She gathered his friends and relatives at the Columbus North baseball diamond where he used to play to release 365 balloons into the air.

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