GoFundMe page to cover drowning victim's funeral expenses

CAMPTON TOWNSHIP – An 18-year-old Campton Township man drowned Monday while swimming in a quarry in Wisconsin.

Marquis Hough was one of two adopted children of Liz and Bill Hough, said family friend Alicia O’Connell of Winfield. The Houghs also have three biological children, she said.

“His mom is my best friend, and they are very overwhelmed,” O’Connell said.

Marquis Hough went with friends from church to their cabin in Wisconsin, and to go swimming at Redgranite Quarry during the Labor Day holiday, O'Connell said.

“He was swimming, and he told his friends he was cramping up and ‘I need help,’ ” O’Connell said. “His friend was 10 feet in front of him and tried to help, but he went under.”

The visitation for Marquis will be from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11, at Riverside Community Church, 37W130 Crane Road, St. Charles Township.

The funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, also at the church, according to an online obituary notice at Moss Family Funeral Home in Batavia. The family has a GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses.

The Houghs are founders of Beautiful U Ministries with a resale shop in Elburn. The charity aids at-risk pregnant teens and teen mothers.

O’Connell said the Houghs adopted Marquis when he was about 12 or 13.

“He was a very resilient spirit of all that he had been through with foster care,” O’Connell said. “He was a very outgoing, warm, tender-hearted person. He harbored no bitterness. He went to church at Riverside Community Church, and he was the life of the youth group.”

A recent graduate of Burlington-Central High School, Marquis was so intelligent and scored so high on the Navy entrance exams that he was going to be working in the nuclear program, O’Connell said

“He had a very bright future,” O’Connell said. “He really did love the Lord. We are confident he is at home with Jesus.”