Lake Jocassee death near state park

A fisherman from Pickens apparently drowned late yesterday afternoon in Lake Jocassee near the Devil’s Fork State Park.  Coroner Karl Addis said the victim was an 85-year old Pickens man, Wallace Edward Curtis, who appeared to have been preparing to load his boat onto a trailer after an outing on the lake.  Curtis had left his Pickens home early yesterday morning and when he did not return, concerned family members called his cell phone around 4 pm.  A passer-by near the landing heard the phone ringing and answered.  The passer-by told the caller how he found the vehicle and that nearby an empty boat was adrift.  Family members arrived and saw their loved one beneath the water.  Emergency Services personnel recovered the body from water estimated to be 10 feet deep and about 20 yards from the boat ramp.  Addis says the death of Wallace Edward Curtis appears to have been a drowning.