A 20-year-old man drowned Monday during a Nazarene youth group trip to the Oregon coast. 

Zane Thomas Gaulke was on a camping trip at Cape Lookout State Park with young people from Hermiston Church of the Nazarene, when he and several people went swimming in the ocean. 

A short time after entering the water, others noticed Gaulke began to struggle in the surf. Three swimmers with Gaulke tried to help him, but they became fatigued and lost sight of him about 75 yards from shore, Oregon State Police said. 

At 2:01 p.m., emergency personnel were called to the beach, and a Tillamook County Sheriff's Office detective and two park employees pulled Gaulke from the water. 

Gaulke was unconscious and emergency personnel were unable to revive him at the scene. An ambulance took Gaulke to Tillamook County General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead an hour later after efforts to revive him failed.

“He was very unique, which I know that everyone likes to say that,” his brother, Zach Gaulke, told the East Oregonian. “He just did his own thing. He never really cared what might be cool or what other people thought about him.”

Zach, an alum of Northwest Nazarene University, also describes his brother has having a great sense of humor.

His Facebook page shows some of Zane Gaulke's humor: "Dropped my cat off at the vet yesterday, this morning we went back and picked up 17 pounds of raw hate."  He also wrote: "Wore a shirt with an amusing picture today. Had to tell the ladies my eyes are up here, thank you."

Gaulke, two weeks away from his 21st birthday, planned to return in the fall to the University of Oregon. He had volunteered this summer at the church's Vacation Bible School. 

“He loved kids and the kids loved him,” Pastor Terry Cummings told the East Oregonian. “Every time I would see him he would have kids hanging on him.”

Gaulke graduated from Hermiston High School in 2009, where, according to MaxPreps' website, he played varsity Lacrosse his senior year.

Friends have been sending condolences and posting messages on family members' Facebook pages: "We will miss you, Zane. We love you, and are SO joyful that you are with Jesus, even though we miss you terribly here."

Gaulke is the son of Mike and Laura Gaulke. Funeral services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at Hermiston Nazarene. Prayer is requested for the Gaulke family and the Hermiston church.