Zack and Angela Allard on their wedding day on July 14, 2018, with Angela's children Jordan, left, and Cameron. Zack Allard, 28, of Randolph, Vt., died six days later in a swimming accident after diving into extremely shallow water. (Family photograph)
Zack and Angela Allard on their wedding day on July 14, 2018, with Angela's children Jordan, left, and Cameron. Zack Allard, 28, of Randolph, Vt., died six days later in a swimming accident after diving into extremely shallow water. (Family photograph) Credit: ​​​​​​Family photo

Randolph — A 28-year-old Randolph man who died over the weekend when he dove into unexpectedly shallow water at a swimming hole off Route 66 had gotten married just six days before the accident.

Zachary Allard, a 2008 Randolph High School graduate, was remembered on Tuesday by his wife, Angela, and sister, Ashley, as a family man and a jack-of-all-trades.

“He was always the jokester in the room,” Angela Allard said in a telephone interview.

“He cared a lot about his family and loved spending a lot of time with his nieces and nephews,” Ashley Allard said of her brother.

Allard had finished mowing the lawn on Friday evening and decided he would take his two stepdaughters, Jordan and Cameron, to a swimming hole next to a culvert that allows Adams Brook to run beneath Route 66.

Shortly after arriving, Allard dove from a rocky outcrop into what police said was “extremely shallow” water. Family members pulled an unresponsive Allard from the water and tried to resuscitate him on the shore until first responders arrived.

Allard was pronounced dead on the scene, according to Vermont State Police.

Angela Allard said she wasn’t sure if her husband had been to that swimming spot before, but Ashley Allard said the location is a place residents frequent.

Streamflow data from the U.S. Geological Survey show that the water flow in Ayers Brook in Randolph, to which the Adams Brook contributes, was less than a third of what it was earlier that week, police said.

Vermont State Police Detective Sgt. Eric Albright investigated the incident.

In an interview this week, Albright said he couldn’t pinpoint why the water was shallower than normal in that area. He said there is a large culvert under the road that empties out into the brook and creates a “pool” there.

He presumed the lack of rain has lead to lower-than-normal water levels. When he arrived, Albright said, he could see that the water was “awfully shallow” where Allard jumped.

The state medical examiner is conducting an autopsy. The results of that weren’t immediately available.

Zachary and Angela Allard tied the knot on July 14 in what she referred to as the perfect wedding in Brookfield, Vt. They attended elementary school together in Braintree, Vt.

Zachary Allard kept himself busy and oftentimes could be found renovating the fixer-upper home the pair bought two years ago.

Zachary worked as an installer at Windows & Doors By Brownell.

In his time off, if he wasn’t spending time with his friends and family members, he could be found on the softball field. He also enjoyed writing poetry.

“He was a genuinely good person,” his sister said.

“He was the most amazing man,” his wife said.

A GoFundMe page has been set up for the family: bit.ly/2A81vr7. It surpassed its $20,000 goal in one day.

Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.