The 89-year-old Pinellas man was found dead at home after Helene was “Grandpa” to Riviera Bay

Tammie Lockwood has to remember that Jerome Waite is gone.

The friends talked constantly – Waite sometimes called her five times a day. She misses his fishing stories and his rugged wisdom. Grief hits Lockwood the hardest when she thinks of something to say to him and realizes she can’t.

“He’s not here anymore,” she said. “It’s just really hard to understand.”

When Lockwood and her husband searched for Waite at his Riviera Bay home after Hurricane Helene, they found the 89-year-old dead in his garage Friday morning.

When investigators arrived, the house was still under water, and coroners classified Waite’s death as “suspicious drowning.”

Waite loved telling Lockwood about trips to the Keys or his career as a young surveyor on projects across the state, including Alligator Alley and Sawgrass Lake Park. As age limited his mobility, he spent a lot of time watching westerns and romance films on television.

Waite had a magnetic personality, Lockwood said, despite suffering tremendous loss late in life.

About two years ago, Waite’s son and daughter died within six months of each other. His wife, who suffered from dementia, also died in May.

Lockwood, 58, was a family friend and caregiver to Waite and his wife Kathy for three years.

The couple was married for 32 years, Lockwood said. When Kathy died, Waite turned his affections to the neighborhood children, who often stopped by to chat. He usually sat in his garage with the door open.

“One day he told me if those kids didn’t come over, he would be dead long ago,” Lockwood said. “That was the sum of his life.”

Waite would tell jokes and give the kids Kool-Aid Pops, said Nicole Pavlica, a neighbor two doors down.

“He was like the neighborhood grandfather,” Pavlica said. “He had nicknames for everyone.”

He and Pavlica’s 10-year-old son, whom Waite called “Cottonhead” because of his bleached hair, were particularly close. The older man often asked the boy for help with tasks he struggled with at his age, such as carrying trash cans out to the street.

“Jerry was really popular in our neighborhood,” she said. “I don’t want people to think he’s just someone who’s been forgotten.”

She said Waite helped instill “old school values” in her three children. In return, the man who had no family nearby had some companionship.

“I appreciate the life lessons they learned from Jerry about helping your neighbors,” she said. “After your wife dies, you know how important it is to still be there for someone.”

About a week before Helene struck, Waite sent Pavlica’s son home with an ice cream maker, which he often used to make treats for the neighborhood children.

Pavlica stored it on a high shelf in her garage. Surge did not spare her home, which is even lower than Waite’s house, Pavlica said.

“We kind of lost everything in our house, but the ice machine made it,” she said. “One day, when we’re better, we’ll definitely make his special flavor – he liked making peanut butter maple. We’re going to do it in Jerry’s honor.”