Hero Dad Left Gut-Wrenching Voicemails for His Kids Before Vanishing in Texas Floods

The voicemails, filled with both love and fear, captured a Texas father's desperate farewell as floodwaters overtook his RV. He also fought to save the lives of others.

24-year-old Jake Ramsey was asleep when he received the call that would forever change his life. His father, Jeff Ramsey, trapped in rising floodwaters alongside his wife Tanya in Kerrville, Texas, spent his final moments leaving goodbye messages for his children.

"My dad made a call to me and my sister. We were asleep. He left us a message saying he wasn't going to make it and that he loved us so much, telling us goodbye," Jake recalled of the tragedy that claimed both his father and stepmother.

The first voicemail Jake received was brief but devastating. "He called me once he realized there was no hope... He said, 'Buddy. I love you so much. It doesn't look like we are going to make it. Tell Rachey I love her,'" he shared.

Jake, still shaken by the memory, described how rare it was to hear his father sound terrified. "You never heard this guy panic but we heard panic and fear in his voice," he said.

Some minutes later, the second voicemail left for Jake's sister Rachel, 23, revealed the terrifying reality inside the RV. In the background, the sound of rushing water could be heard along with Tanya's anguished screams. She cried, "We're dying, we're dying!"

The evacuation alert from the RV park arrived far too late. Jake explained that the message telling residents to gather their properties and "head out as soon as possible" came at the exact moment his father and stepmother were already being swept away. The cruel timing of the alert made the situation even harder to bear.

"I saw that he got that text as they were floating away. Literally right as he left my sister that goodbye message," Jake said, calling the moment a person's "worst nightmare."

In the chaos, Jeff did everything he could to save others before it was too late. He rang up fellow RV park residents, Tanya's brother and mother, ensuring they escaped the rising waters.

"He rescued them because they would have slept in and they would have washed away... He saved their lives," Jake said, reflecting on his father's final act of heroism.

The heartbreak extended beyond the immediate tragedy. Tanya, 46, had been bravely fighting breast cancer. She worked as a Client Care Manager at Wigs.com for nearly nine years and shared her cancer journey in a YouTube interview in March 2024.

In the interview, Tanya spoke candidly about her diagnosis of invasive ductal carcinoma, which had been discovered after her husband noticed a lump in September 2023. At the time of her diagnosis, doctors placed her cancer between stages 2 and 3.

She described the emotional toll of losing her hair during chemotherapy but found comfort in her husband's unwavering support. According to Tanya, Jeff often offered gentle, honest opinions on her wigs, sometimes pointing out the ones that resembled her natural hair best.

By the time of the interview, she had completed 13 chemotherapy sessions and reflected on how her fear had lessened with each milestone. She spoke about taking things "step by step" and finding the experience both humbling and life-changing.

The love within the family extended beyond bloodlines. Jake described Tanya as someone who loved him and his sister as her own children. "Obviously we have a mom as well, but we were her babies," he said of his stepmother's unconditional care.

Jeff, too, was known for his generosity and kindness. The 61-year-old worked at a local gym, where, according to Jake, he often witnessed what he called daily miracles, including stories of people recovering from accidents or learning to walk again.

"There are miracles happening in that gym all the time," Jake said. He also added that his father told him that that was "his calling."