Stacy Pare and her 16-year-old son, Nasario, left a local probate court Tuesday morning to start the process of getting his last name changed, to honor the man who saved his life over the weekend.

Pare, 37 of Naugatuck, said her boyfriend, 27-year-old Kyree Dowd, drowned in Bantam Lake while their family was celebrating her birthday and her daughter's recent high school graduation at a campground for the weekend. Dowd was the only father figure her three oldest children had ever known, Pare said, and was a second dad to her youngest son, who is only 8.

"Kyree told me all the time he would die for those kids," Pare tearfully told CT Insider Tuesday. "He would not change this. And God forbid, if my son were all the way under and Kyree couldn't get him, I would have lost both of them, because he would not stop until he got my son. He would save our son."

Pare said the family had gone swimming, when Nasario got caught under an undertow and screamed for help as he started to drown. Without a second of hesitation, Dowd went to rescue Nasario, but never came up.

"I ran in the water," Pare said. "I looked for him. I'm an excellent swimmer, and I could not find him."

Pare noted that both Nasario and Dowd also were great swimmers, and never in a million years would have expected something like this to occur.

After Dowd was transported to the hospital in serious condition, he let the kids say goodbye to him, and then his heart gave our while Pare held his hand, she said.

Pare said a necklace Dowd always wore was not on him as he took his last breaths, even though he wore it into the water. Later, it was found by a nearby rock, and given to Nasario as a keepsake.

"It was laid on a rock, perfectly intact, and (now) my son has his necklace on him," she said. "Kyree's dad was like, 'He can have it. That is your necklace. That is yours.'"

Dowd loved Pare's four children greatly, and always claimed them as his biological children, Pare said. She added he was the family's greatest protector and always said he would do anything for them.

Pare said her one-year-relationship with Dowd was extremely passionate and moving fast. When they first met, Dowd called it "love at first sight" and became a part of her family quickly, she said.

"(When we met) he was going through a hard time emotionally, and everybody says I changed his life, but he changed our lives," Pare said. "We saved each other. This year changed our lives forever."

Pare went on to say the two of them had planned on getting engaged soon and often had talked about having more children. Now, instead, she and the family have begun the process of planning his funeral and memorial services.

"He (Dowd) gave our son another chance," Pare said. "That's Nasario's father, regardless. He wants his father's last name, and he's getting it."