- December 13, 2025
Jason Prather, 30, of the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, was able to pay tribute to his father in a unique way July 21.
Prather is the son of the longest serving deputy the Sheriff’s Office has ever employed, Grady Prather Jr., who died in November 2009, after retiring from the Sheriff’s Office in January 2008.
A proponent of the dive program at the office, Grady Prather Jr. now has an artificial reef named after him.
The reef was dropped 13.8 nautical miles southeast of the Matanzas inlet. It is the 10th artificial reef permitted and constructed off the coast of Flagler County.
To pay for the project, Flagler County applied for and received a $51,750 grant from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The funds come from state saltwater fishing license revenues and the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Program from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Another grant for $20,000 was approved by the St. Augustine Port, Waterway and Beach District. The total project cost is $71,750.
Material for the reef was provided by St. Johns County from the material left after replacing two bridges on State Road A1A, at Summer Haven. The material was inspected and approved before it was dropped in the artificial reef.
In addition to the concrete, Jason Prather was able to add a personal touch, with the help of Billy Dawson, of Flagler County’s Public Works Department.
Dawson drew a Sheriff’s Office star with the initials G.P. in the center of a steel plate, and county employee George Miller cut the piece out and welded it to a stand. Jason Prather and members of the Sherriff’s Office dive team dove on the reef site to place the marker after the Thursday afternoon drop.
“We’re putting in the marker so we can always go back and find it,” Jason Prather said.
—Brian McMillan contributed to this report.
To see more photos from the drop, click here.
