No sign of children lost on the Sonoma Coast; memorial scholarship fund established

California State Park personnel began Tuesday with a search along much of the Sonoma Coast for two missing Petaluma children swept off Blind Beach during a family outing over the weekend that took their father’s life.

But there remained no sign of the missing children, Anna Wyman, 7, and John Wyman, 4, who were lost in the waves on Sunday afternoon after they and their parents were knocked off their feet by the powerful surf.

State Parks Peace Officer Sgt. Tim Murphy said ocean conditions in the area of Blind Beach and nearby Goat Rock were so hazardous Tuesday morning that public safety personnel searching for the siblings dared not go onto the beach. Already rangers have kept the gate to Goat Rock Beach locked since the new year to limit public exposure to the dangerous seas.

“Surf is huge, 20-foot-plus,” Murphy said via text message.

Rangers searched the shoreline from the bluffs, while lifeguards drove more southerly reaches around Salmon Creek beach to look for signs of the children.

Conditions subsided in the afternoon, so that Monte Rio Fire Chief Steve Baxman and a state park lifeguard ventured onto the beach, jumping waves at times, the chief said. They walked north to Jenner and south about a mile south from Blind Beach, collecting a few scattered pieces of children’s clothing that could be totally unrelated to the Wyman children, though they planned to double check.

“The surf’s gone all the way up to the banks, so it’s gotten all kinds of stuff dug up,” Baxman said. “We don’t know what was there before and what wasn’t. We’re trying to find anything we can. We go every day.”

A friend said family, including husband and wife Michael and Sarah Wyman, had recently moved to Petaluma from Oakland in search of a more pastoral life as the pandemic dragged on.

Their visit to sandy Blind Beach on Sunday coincided with heavy surf and powerful waves that caused the ocean to surge well up the beach, state park personnel said.

The family was near the edge of the water when they were swept off their feet into the surf. Sarah Wyman was able to scramble out and was aided by bystanders in bringing her husband ashore. But Michael Wyman, 40, had been in the water too long and could not be revived.

The children are presumed to have died in the frigid, turbulent seas, officials said.

The tragedy has prompted an outpouring of grief and support for Sarah Wyman and other family members, who remain in seclusion.

But Chabad Jewish Center of Petaluma, where they had recently found a spiritual home, has assisted in establishing a scholarship in the children’s honor to benefit the Hebrew school they were to have started attending within days of their deaths. Donations may be made at JewishPetaluma.com/Wyman.

The family also has suggested that contributions be made to calfirelocal2881.org/.

The family has said it is not in need of direct financial help at this time and does not have an online fund, a representative from Chabad said.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a new charity for potential donations.