N.L. woman who drowned rescuing children in Ecuador remembered as being 'larger than life'

When police arrived at Gloria and Harold Marshall's door one morning in mid-February, the St. John's couple thought maybe they had driven through a stop sign.

Then Gloria Marshall saw the expression on the officers' faces. 

"I knew right away. I just said, 'It's Catherine,'" Gloria said. "It was like a nightmare."

The police informed the Marshalls that their daughter, 41-year-old Catherine, had died while on vacation in Montañita, Ecuador, with her partner Jason (Jay) Joniec, but they had few details, said Gloria.

"It was 'Your daughter has drowned in an attempt to rescue some children who got in trouble in the ocean.' And that was all they could tell us," she said.

After the police left, Gloria called Joniec's mother in Ontario, who told her the police had just been at her house too, and that her son had also drowned while trying to rescue the children.

The news was a total shock to the Marshalls.

"It's not something that you're prepared for," Harold said. "It's tough."

The last time they spoke to Catherine, who was originally from Labrador and had lived in St. John's, was the night before she died. 

"It was a very quick call," Gloria said. "You know, 'I'm doing OK. OK, we're taking off to somewhere to get a bite to eat and we love you.' And she was gone. And that was it."

It was Catherine and Jay's second trip to Ecuador in the last year. Gloria said the couple had fallen in love with the country — "the beauty of it, the simplicity of it, the kindness of the people, the slow pace."

What Catherine loved about Ecuador was echoed in her own personality traits, said Gloria.

"Catherine was larger than life," Gloria said. "She did everything big. She loved big, she loved people. She loved her family. She loved music, she loved art."

The small coastal village of Montañita, renowned for its powerful currents, is an attractive tourist destination for surfers and sun seekers alike. Christian Ruiz, one of the lifeguards on duty the day Catherine Marshall and Joniec drowned — Feb. 11 — said he was about to head home at the end of the day when another lifeguard alerted him that the current had dragged at least 10 people into the ocean.