Support for Sue's Family After Tragic Loss

On March 4th, around midnight our time, 9pm in Washington, I awoke to a call from my dad who told me not to panic, but he hadn't heard from my mom since she left almost 5 hours earlier from her flight headed home to Chelan in her private 2 seater Cessna after visiting with my dad in Yakima, WA . My dad had to finally make the call to search and rescue and then to myself and my brother Kevin. About an hour later, he called again to let us know that they had tracked my mom's phone signal, and it was located just outside of Ellensburg, about 40 miles north of her departure. That night was the most horrific sleepless night of my life. As my husband Rick and I sat in bed for hours, texting my dad and brother while we all watched the flight radar as they searched the area with a black hawk helicopter. We saw them circle many times, and then finally, head back to base. They had given up and would resume searching in the morning. Around 12:30pm EST, 9:30am PST, approximately 16 hours since she had last been seen, they finally found her plane at the base of some hills in a clearing next to a windfarm. The plane was completely destroyed. My mom did not survive the crash. My brother's childhood friend Aaron was one of the volunteers on the Life Flight helicopter that found her and told him the devastating news. (Thank you Aaron, and I am so sorry you experienced this) Kevin then called my dad and I on three way to let us know that our worst fears were confirmed. Our hearts were absolutely crushed.

My mom, Sue, was literally the most amazing human on the planet. Anyone who knew her would claim the same. She was the kindest, most compassion person to every person she met. The amount of lives she impacted by her young age of 73 was too many to count. From the 30 years she spent as a NICU nurse, saving many premature babies who would later grow up and get to meet the incredible nurse that gave them a chance at life; to Kevin and my friends in our home town of Selah who grew up spending many hours at our house (or mini "farm" as you would likely call it) who fondly today consider her to be a second mother to them; to the many pilot friends and gardening gurus, there were too many people to mention them all who knew my mom and loved her as a family member. Her generosity, zest for life, spirit of adventure, determined strong will (and sometimes stubborn as hell), compassion for people, love for animals, appreciation for God and his creation, and commitment to be the best provider and mother to her kids will never ever ever be forgotten.

At this time, we are asking for help for the expenses involved in taking care of my mom and her belongings. Thankfully, she did an incredible job preparing and covering the cost for a lot of the arrangements, but there will still be significant expenses involved, one of which being travel as my family and my brother Kevin's family live in other states and we will need to go back and forth multiple times between helping with my mom's belongings and then coming back with the kids for her celebration of life. Any extra funds we receive will also go towards helping my dad in the coming months as he needs, which may involve relocating.

Any amount is helpful and greatly appreciated. We do not have a date yet for her celebration of life, but will be traveling within the next few days.

We want to thank everyone who has sent text messages, made phone calls and posted comments on social media of condolences and support. You can never know how much it means to know so many care and loved my mom so much.

Thank you with all our heart.