Death of a Show Cave Manager
Wednesday, May 9th, 2007On Monday 30-MAY-2007 Thomas A. Summers III, the manager of the show cave Cave Without A Name near Boerne, Texas, U.S.A., drowned in his own cave. A lower part of this cave system is a river cave called Dead Man’s Cave. After heavy rains the water in the cave was rising, and to make sure there would be no problems with the cave tours, Summers and an employee entered the low cave to find a suggested blockage. Swimming in the water he entered a sump and felt his way into the almost completely water filled passage, when the employee heard a sputtering sound and Summers disappeared. Summers’ body was later retrieved by rescue divers, after the water level had been lowered by pumps.
Cave Without A Name is owned by the Summers family. Although Tom Summers had an engineering career he left it to manage the cave with his father. He loved his cave and is responsible for several improvements, including the construction of a paved road, an expanded parking lot and the renovation of the visitors center.
