The American woman who was swept out to sea and drowned Saturday evening in Italy - as she sacrificed herself to save her son - grew up in Kalispell and was a standout athlete at Flathead High School.

Sharrie Shelton Duncan, 48, was standing with her 12-year-old son, Shane, on a pier in the southern Italian resort town of Positano, watching the storm-whipped sea, when they were struck by a freak wave.

Witnesses said Sharrie was able to push her son toward rescuers before she was carried away by the water, according to a Reuters news report.

A bystander captured the scene on a mobile phone, and the dramatic video footage has been seen around the world.

"She's a heroine in my eyes," said Jack Therrien, a retired Columbia Falls pharmacist and Sharrie's cousin. "I think her being that athletic saved her son. No one seems to know why that big wave came up like it did."

A 1979 Flathead High School graduate, Sharrie is being remembered this week by friends and family as an incredible athlete and an incredible person.

"She had an infectious personality," said her brother, Randy Shelton of Billings. "She was totally nonjudgmental of other people, a real free spirit."

Sharrie and her husband, Gil Duncan, and their son had been living in Naples, Italy, for about a year, but had lived in Europe on and off because of Gil's job with Boeing. Their son was born in London.

"Sharrie would always want to experience the local flavor of wherever they lived," her brother recalled.

When they lived in London, she worked a couple of evenings a week at a local pub, just to experience the culture. Sharrie already had endeared herself to her neighborhood in Naples, he said. The local market closed in her honor when word of her death circulated.

It was Sharrie's athletic ability in so many sports that many Kalispell area residents still remember.

"Athletically she was one of the finest athletes I've ever been around," her brother said. "She was incredible."

Her father, Chuck Shelton, recalled what an extraordinary swimmer his daughter was. He paused to contemplate the irony, and said there was no overcoming the power of the undercurrent that swept her away on the Italian seashore.

A memorial service will be held in Kalispell in the next few weeks.