RISON - Frederick Marsh, 24, a Rison native who recently became an officer for the Rogers Police Department, drowned Saturday evening, July 18, while trying to help another swimmer during a canoe trip along the Elk River in southwest Missouri, according to police reports.
Funeral arrangements through Brown Funeral Home of Pine Bluff had not be released as of press time.
Missouri State Police reported that Marsh, who was listed as a resident of Fayetteville, entered the water at about 5:40 p.m. Saturday to assist another swimmer and became distressed and exhausted. He went under the water and did not resurface.
Marsh was recovered Sunday morning by a dive team in the Elk River near Easy Street in Noel, Mo. He was pronounced dead by McDonald County, Mo., coroner Jonathan Fletcher at 10:08 a.m. Sunday.
A 2020 honor graduate from Rison High School, Marsh first attended Central Baptist College in Conway on a baseball scholarship before eventually earning a degree at Ecclesia College. He was also a graduate of the Arkansas Law Enforcement Academy.
Ecclesia, a private evangelical Christian college in Springdale, posted on its Facebook page that Marsh had graduated from the college in 2025 with a bachelor of science degree in psychology and counseling, with a minor in Biblical studies. He maintained a 4.0 GPA, was co-Valedictorian of his graduating class and also played on the baseball team.
“While a student, he invested himself into the lives of so many, spending his time doing things that really made a difference, like tutoring children with special medical needs, delivering small, hand-made gifts of encouragement to elderly veterans, and visiting and spending time with retired faculty members in their homes,” Ecclesia College posted on its Facebook page about Marsh. “Fred was genuine, authentic, and loving. He did what he did because he loved Jesus, and his life, in every way, mirrored the goodness of the God he served,” the post continued. “Every person who posts a tribu…