azskeptic
07-20-2004, 10:25 AM
Chicagotribune.com >> Nation/World
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4 from Indiana killed as plane crashes in Georgia during storm
By Kathleen Johnston, Special to the Tribune. Tribune news services
contributed to this report
Published July 20, 2004
INDIANAPOLIS -- A prominent southern Indiana man, his fiance and her
two teenage granddaughters, returning from a weekend outing in
Florida, were killed Sunday when their small plane crashed in rural
Georgia during a thunderstorm.
Wreckage from the six-passenger Beechcraft Bonanza was strewn over a
mile-long area near Sylvester, which is about 20 miles east of Albany,
Ga.,said Freddie Tompkins, sheriff of Worth County.
Tompkins said a resident called authorities about 5:15 p.m. Sunday and
said a plane had gone down during a storm that dumped almost 2 inches
of rain within an hour.
Killed were Louis "Bud" Reitmeyer, 66, a veteran pilot and owner of
CLR Construction, and his fiance, Marlena Stein, 53, both of
Vincennes, Ind. Stein's granddaughters Ashton Church, 18, and her
sister Brianne, 14, both of Monrovia, Ind., also died in the crash.
Friends said the four went Friday to the Sarasota, Fla., area where
Stein owned a condominium, for a short vacation before the girls
returned to school next month. Reitmeyer bought the plane last year,
an associate said.
Tompkins said after receiving an initial call about a plane crash,
authorities received word from controllers in Jacksonville, Fla., that
a pilot had radioed that he was having trouble with his aircraft.
He said a Georgia state police helicopter then spotted the wreckage.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety
Board are investigating the accident, Tompkins said.
Reitmeyer was a member of the Lawrenceville (Ill.)-Vincennes Airport
Board, said Rick Riggins, his office manager.
Reitmeyer's company, named after his son Chad's initials, built
bridges in southern Indiana, Riggins added.
Reitmeyer is also survived by a daughter, Jill, of Dallas.
"He was the kindest man I ever met," Riggins said.
Riggins said they used to joke that they would rather fly than drive
with Reitmeyer because he was a longtime pilot who was
safety-conscious.
"It had to be something very bad, very quick for this to happen," Riggins said.
Stein was a nurse practitioner who owned a health center, which she
had founded with her late husband, who was a doctor.
Cassi Newman, a medical assistant at the clinic, said Stein was
attending medical school through a university in Antigua to become a
family practitioner. She had two sons, Matt Church of Indianapolis and
Toby Church of Monrovia.
Two of Toby Church's three daughters died in the crash.
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4 from Indiana killed as plane crashes in Georgia during storm
By Kathleen Johnston, Special to the Tribune. Tribune news services
contributed to this report
Published July 20, 2004
INDIANAPOLIS -- A prominent southern Indiana man, his fiance and her
two teenage granddaughters, returning from a weekend outing in
Florida, were killed Sunday when their small plane crashed in rural
Georgia during a thunderstorm.
Wreckage from the six-passenger Beechcraft Bonanza was strewn over a
mile-long area near Sylvester, which is about 20 miles east of Albany,
Ga.,said Freddie Tompkins, sheriff of Worth County.
Tompkins said a resident called authorities about 5:15 p.m. Sunday and
said a plane had gone down during a storm that dumped almost 2 inches
of rain within an hour.
Killed were Louis "Bud" Reitmeyer, 66, a veteran pilot and owner of
CLR Construction, and his fiance, Marlena Stein, 53, both of
Vincennes, Ind. Stein's granddaughters Ashton Church, 18, and her
sister Brianne, 14, both of Monrovia, Ind., also died in the crash.
Friends said the four went Friday to the Sarasota, Fla., area where
Stein owned a condominium, for a short vacation before the girls
returned to school next month. Reitmeyer bought the plane last year,
an associate said.
Tompkins said after receiving an initial call about a plane crash,
authorities received word from controllers in Jacksonville, Fla., that
a pilot had radioed that he was having trouble with his aircraft.
He said a Georgia state police helicopter then spotted the wreckage.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety
Board are investigating the accident, Tompkins said.
Reitmeyer was a member of the Lawrenceville (Ill.)-Vincennes Airport
Board, said Rick Riggins, his office manager.
Reitmeyer's company, named after his son Chad's initials, built
bridges in southern Indiana, Riggins added.
Reitmeyer is also survived by a daughter, Jill, of Dallas.
"He was the kindest man I ever met," Riggins said.
Riggins said they used to joke that they would rather fly than drive
with Reitmeyer because he was a longtime pilot who was
safety-conscious.
"It had to be something very bad, very quick for this to happen," Riggins said.
Stein was a nurse practitioner who owned a health center, which she
had founded with her late husband, who was a doctor.
Cassi Newman, a medical assistant at the clinic, said Stein was
attending medical school through a university in Antigua to become a
family practitioner. She had two sons, Matt Church of Indianapolis and
Toby Church of Monrovia.
Two of Toby Church's three daughters died in the crash.