White House help with rescuing a small boy and paying for his funeral?-Truth! & Fiction!

The Secret Service and President Bush Helped Try to Rescue a Boy Who Drowned Near the President’s Ranch Then Helped Pay for His Funeral-Truth! & Fiction!

Summary of eRumor:

The eRumor, says that the Secret Service and the president’s personal physician tried to help rescue a little boy who drowned near President Bush’s Texas ranch, that Mr. Bush’s helicopter flew him to the hospital and that after the boy died, President Bush is suspected as having been the anonymous donor that paid for the funeral.  

The Truth:


This is a true story that got some fictional elements thrown in.
According to several news accounts, including an article in the Clifton Record Newspaper in Clifton, Texas from March 12, 2004, six-year-old Samuel Thomas Kettler of Coryell City did drown in a stock tank on a ranch near President Bush’s ranch.
Local authorities requested help from a Secret Service special response team stationed at the ranch and it was one of their divers that found the boy.
He was transported by a military helicopter based at the ranch, but it was not the president’s helicopter.
There is no report that the president’s physician participated in the rescue.
The first-grader was given CPR but efforts at the scene and later at a hospital failed to revive him.
There is also no evidence that the president or any other anonymous donor helped pay for the funeral.
We contacted the Gatesville Funeral Home in Gatesville, Texas, which handled the little boy’s services.
A statement issued by the director says that has been their policy not to charge for their services when dealing with a family who has lost a small child.
Other costs, he says, were paid for by the Kettler family.
He adds that the family is disturbed that the rumor is circulating.

So where did the story come from?
As the email indicates, it came from a relative of Samuel Thomas, but the portions that talk about the president, his helicopter, his physician, and his probable payment for the funeral were distortions of the facts.