Plane Crash Kills Family of 5

Located at Pierce City Cemetery in Pierce City, MO.

This article is from Lubbock Online .

Family killed in plane crash near Tulsa remembered as 'fabulous'
Published: Sunday, December 01, 2002
Associated Press

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — As federal investigators prepared to move the wreckage of a plane that crashed earlier this week, the brother of the pilot who was killed was getting ready to make funeral arrangements.

William Gray, 56, his wife, Kathy, 53, and their sons Chad, 23, and Chase, 20, and daughter Brooke, 17, died Wednesday afternoon when their twin-engine plane crashed near McAlester Regional Airport.

Don Gray, the oldest of five siblings, remembered his brother on Friday as an overachiever athletically, who passed his sports ability on to his children.

"He wasn't the fastest or the biggest guy, but he was a good player," Don Gray told the Tulsa World from his Went worth, Mo., home. "Everything he did, he wanted to do well."

William Gray played football and basketball at Pierce City in southwestern Missouri. His son, Chase, played on three state champion teams at Trinity Christian Academy in Texas, Gray said. Brooke Gray was on the drill team at Trinity.

Chad Gray worked at Grayco Bank Products in Carrollton, Texas, the company his father started after working at another banking supply firm with Jerry Gray, one of his other brothers, Don Gray said.

Chad was good with computers and was "working at Grayco and building Web sites," Don Gray said.

Kathy Gray was a counselor, her brother-in-law said. All five were active in their church, he said.

"They were just a fabulous family," he said. "They had three great kids."

Few additional details on a cause of the crash were available, said Tom Little, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board. Investigators interviewed witnesses and coordinated removal of the debris from the crash site to a hangar for examination.

The FFA and the NTSB were also investigating another fatal plane crash in central Oklahoma on Friday.

William Gray owned the six-seat airplane, a Piper PA-34-220-T. According to FAA records, the plane replaced a single-engine plane he had owned in 1998.

William Gray had been planning to bring his mother with him on the flight back, Don Gray said. The family was going to gather in the Dallas area for an upcoming Christmas pageant in which Brooke and Kathy Gray were participating, he said.

"Such a neat family," Don Gray said. "This is why it is so tough. To lose a whole family is hard." 
 

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This article is from CNN.


Five dead in Oklahoma plane crash
November 28, 2002

Five people were killed aboard a single-engine plane that crashed near the McAlester, Oklahoma, airport, authorities said. The weather was clear when the crash occurred around 4:15 p.m. (5:15 p.m. EST) Wednesday, said Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman Robert Padgett. Witnesses said the plane was trying to land at the McAlester City Airport. It apparently rolled to the left after engine problems, Padgett said. The highway patrol is one of many agencies that will investigate the accident, he said.
 
 

Father

William L. "Bill" Gray

June 7, 1945

Nov 22, 2002

Married

June 10,

1972

Mother

Kathy L. Gray

Sept 18, 1949

Nov 27, 2002

Chad William Gray

Dec 3, 1978 - Nov 27, 2002 

Brooke Ashley Gray

Dec 17, 1984  - Nov 27, 2002

Chase Loren Gray

Dec 15, 1981 - Nov 27, 2002

The following article is from the Baylor college website.


Memorial Service Set For Chase Loren Gray
Dec. 3, 2002
by Lori Scott Fogleman

A campus memorial service celebrating the life of Baylor University junior Chase Loren Gray will be held at 8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 9, at Miller Chapel.

Gray, 20, died Wednesday, Nov. 27, in a private plane crash near McAlester, Okla., as his family traveled to Missouri for the Thanksgiving holidays. His father and mother, William and Kathy Gray, brother Chad and sister Brooke also were killed in the accident.

Dr. Todd L. Lake, dean for university ministries, will lead the service. Gray's roommates and friends, including some who have known him since grade school, will speak at the memorial. The Baylor Religious Hour (BRH) choir will be among those providing special music.

Gray was born Dec. 15, 1981. He graduated from Trinity Christian Academy near Dallas and was pursuing a bachelor's of business administration degree in accounting at Baylor. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and attended University Baptist Church in Waco. His sister, Brooke, was planning to join him at Baylor in the fall.

Other services have been set for the family. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, where the Grays were members. A visitation will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, at the National Guard, 104 W. Main St., in Pierce City, Mo. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, also at the National Guard. Arrangements are being handled by the Don-Wilks-Lakin Funeral Home in Pierce City.

For more information, contact the office of university ministries at 710-3517.

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You can read the crash reports at the following links:

http://www.planecrashmap.com/plane/ok/N699WG


http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20021202X05543&key=1