9/3/2004: B1: Pallbearers walk into the Finley Center on Thursday with the casket of Tim Rapella, a Santa Rosa Fire Department fire protection engineer who died while saving his son at Portuguese Beach on the Sonoma Coast on Saturday. The memorial service was preceded by a procession of dozens of firetrucks escorting the hearse from Rohnert Park to Santa Rosa. Witnesses said, Rapella swam out to his son, who was caught by a sleeper wave, and managed to push and pull the 12-year-old back to shore. Only after he saw his son reach safety was Rapella swept 70 yards to sea, where he drowned.

John Burgess, Santa Rosa Press Democrat