Memorial for Cliff Divers Who Perished at Black Beach is Found

Last month, we re­ported that a wooden cross memorial, in­stalled in June 2024 on a cliff overlooking Lake Superior, had dis­appeared. The cross has been found, residing in a storage shed used by the Silver Bay parks department.

The memorial was created to warn of the dangers of cliff-jump­ing in that area of the Lake Superior shore and to honor the mem­ory of Austin Henning and his friend Max Wil­liams. The two teens jumped from the cliff on June 25, 2023, and drowned before rescu­ers could arrive.

The memorial mys­teriously disappeared sometime before Labor Day Weekend. When Beth Ann Henning, Austin’s mother, first inquired, city park staff told her that they did not take the memori­al down. Apparent­ly, though, someone thought the memorial had been on site “too long” and took it down. When Bryan Carpen­ter, head of the parks department, discovered it in the shed, he alerted law enforcement offi­cials, who contacted Beth Ann’s friend Jen, who first reported the lost memorial.

Describing what the cross on the cliff meant to her, Beth Ann said, “It felt like a portal to my child. And it was a message to others to pause before doing something reckless.”

Beth Ann and Max’s mother, Sheri Williams, have not been alone in their journey. The Inver Grove Heights commu­nity and extended fam­ily have rallied behind them, demonstrating the power of unity in times of tragedy. Hop­ing to turn their grief over a horrible expe­rience into something good, the two wom­en have raised money for donations to first responders in Lake County and to create a scholarship for Simley High School students.

The family and friends of the two young men who died are finalizing a new memorial that will be installed at the site on November 2, 2025. Beth Ann is expecting a large turnout for the installation, which be­gins at 12:30 pm.

Beth Ann wants to ensure people are aware of the dangers Lake Superior poses to the inexperienced. She hopes the new memo­rial and its cautionary message will be perma­nent.

The City of Silver Bay does not have an ordinance for or against the private installation of memorials on city property.

“We’re hoping that other parents don’t have to go through some­thing similar to what we’re going through,” Beth Ann said. “We hope for understanding and acceptance as we try to make something good out of the bad.”