BERLIN — The Lower Shore community is mourning the tragic loss of a local middle school teacher early this week after his body was recovered from the Potomac River following an apparent boating accident on Sunday.
Around 9 a.m. on Sunday, Doug Romano, 51, of Salisbury, left home for an excursion to search for fossils along the Potomac River shoreline. Romano, a teacher for 27 years including the last 11 at Stephen Decatur Middle School in Berlin, informed his family he would be back around 9 p.m. on Sunday night, according to Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) spokesperson Candus Thomson.
When Romano didn’t return home by 1 a.m., his wife called authorities to alert them of an overdue boater. At first light on Monday, the NRP, the Coast Guard and local authorities began searching in the area around the Potomac River where Romano was reportedly headed on Sunday. NRP officers found Romano’s vehicle and trailer at Saunders Marina on Cobb Island in Charles County.
A short time later, rangers at Westmoreland State Park on the Virginia side of the Potomac located a capsized boat about a mile from the shoreline, according to Thomson. The Coast Guard reached and recovered the vessel, which was a small skiff, or John boat. The vessel had a motor at some point, but the motor was missing when the Coast Guard recovered it.
Shortly after 2 p.m. on Monday, the Coast Guard recovered Romano’s body in the water off Cobb Island. Romano was wearing a life jacket at the time of the incident. The remains were transported to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Baltimore for an autopsy.
“The investigation is continuing,” said Thomson on Tuesday. We hope to determine if it was some kind of medical emergency, which the autopsy should reveal, or if it was some kind of medical mishap. The boat had a motor at some point, but the motor was missing when it was recovered.”
Thomson said the conditions on the river could have contributed to the incident.
“There were fairly strong winds on the river on Sunday with gusts to 20 knots and one-foot waves and water temperatures around 55 degrees, so it wasn’t exactly the friendliest of conditions,” she said. “The conditions were challenging for our searchers, so they had to be just as challenging for a small skiff.”
Meanwhile, by Tuesday the word of Romano’s passing had started to reach the local community, including Stephen Decatur Middle School, where he was a seventh-grade science teacher for the last 11 years.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Doug Romano,” said SDMS Principal Lynne Barton. “He was a colleague, friend, mentor, coach and an inspiration to so many. He possessed a high level of energy and positivity that was contagious. We will miss him.”
Additional school counselors are on site at the school to help students cope with the loss. In addition, the Health Department is offering onsite support and counseling to teachers and staff. Additional support will remain at the school this week as needed. Worcester County Public Schools Superintendent Jerry Wilson said the school community is mourning the loss.
“It is heartbreaking when we lose someone in our school family,” he said. “Our focus will be helping out students and staff to cope with this terrible loss, helping the Romano family in any way that we can, and remembering a special person who devoted his life to helping the next generation understand and explore their world.”