Lifelong swimmer and ‘great dad’ dies after being pulled unconscious from water at La Jolla Cove

A former La Jolla resident who was pulled unconscious from the water during a swim at La Jolla Cove last week died three days later, his family said.

Gene Carman, 67, is believed to have gone into cardiac arrest while in the water, according to the family.

Carman was taken from the water by fellow swimmers the morning of May 3 after they “saw something floating and soon realized it was a person,” according to a swimmer who was at The Cove.

People on land called 911 around 7:40 a.m., and witnesses performed CPR until emergency personnel arrived and took over, the swimmer told the La Jolla Light.

There were no waves at the time and “the conditions were ideal for La Jolla Cove,” the witness said.

Carman’s son, Zachary, told the Light that his father was a lifelong swimmer who “loved La Jolla [and] taught me how to swim at the Children’s Pool. [He] was a scuba instructor and a great guy.”

Carman’s widow, Codie, said “La Jolla Cove was his favorite place in the whole world.”

The Carman family was visiting La Jolla the morning of May 3. Codie went for a walk and Gene went for a swim. When she returned to the entrance of The Cove to meet Gene, she saw an ambulance and police on the scene. Knowing her husband was in the area, she checked the ambulance and saw Gene getting medical attention.

Gene was briefly resuscitated on the beach and taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, where he was placed on life support while medical personnel did brain scans to see if there was any activity.

Doctors said “the damage was just too great,” Zachary said. While the family was making decisions about his end-of-life plan, “we got a call that his heart gave out and ... the machines could no longer help stabilize him.”

Gene died the morning of May 6.

Gene was on the swim team in high school and served in the Navy, Zachary said.

“We’re not ever going to know what happened, but we think he went into cardiac arrest and he just wasn’t spotted soon enough,” Zachary said. “We’re all torn up about it.”

Gene, the oldest of five children, was an engineer who lived in Illinois and Texas before moving to San Diego County. He lived in Lemon Grove and Clairemont before moving to La Jolla.

“He lived in an apartment that allowed him to walk to The Cove every day,” Zachary said.

Gene’s work eventually took him to Washington and Florida, where he continued to swim in local waters.

He recently retired, and the family was stopping in La Jolla before going to Texas to visit family members there. The family plans to have a small memorial service in Texas.

“As a person, he loved to talk, and anyone that got to talk to him would have a better day,” Zachary said. “He was a great dad.” ◆