For Anna Daddio, her husband, Rocco Daddio Jr., 34, will always be "the love of my life."

Daddio said her husband was a "practical joker" and a "hopeless romantic."

"He was a fantastic father and a wonderful husband," Daddio said Tuesday evening.

She said a fun day at the beach turned into a tragic nightmare Monday evening. Daddio said she and her husband, their daughter, Mia, 8, and a best friend's son, who is 9, were returning after walking out to Charles Island on the sandbar at Silver Sands State Park.

Daddio said there was very little water on the sandbar, but the current become so strong and started moving them around. Daddio said she and her daughter were a little farther ahead, and she recalled pulling Mia to safety. She tried to reach her husband and the boy, but failed. "I just watched them disappear."

Daddio said she ran over to a lifeguard, begging for 911 to be called. Crews spent more than two hours searching the water for her husband before his body was found.

He was pronounced dead at Milford Hospital Monday evening. The boy was rescued by a lifeguard and two people passing on personal watercraft.

Daddio said her husband could not swim. She thanked the Fire Department for their efforts in searching for her husband.

Rocco Daddio was a car salesman at Lee Partyka in Hamden for three years.

"He was one of a kind. A wonderful father and hard worker," said sales manager Andrew Quintyne. "He was different from everyone else. We miss him. It's a sad day for the dealership