5. CHRIS ALAN8 LAKE (LAWRENCEREX7, LESTERLEONARD6, ILAHENDERSON5, JOHNAARON4, ILA3, GEORGEB.2, WILLIAM1) was born January 07, 1963, and died July 12, 1990 in Petersburg, Virginia. He married PAMELA JEAN METCALFE August 08, 1986 in Fairmont, WV - Valley Chapel United Methodist Church, daughter of JOHN METCALFE and BARBARA BERRY. She was born April 28, 1964.
Notes for CHRIS ALAN LAKE:
Chris and Pam were married August 8, 1986 at the Valley Chapel United Methodist Church in Fairmont, West Virginia. Pam's maid of honor was her sister, Debbie Metcalfe and the matron of honor was Terry Cubitt, Chris' sister. Chris' best man was his brother, Kevin and groomsmen were Phil Cubitt, Charlie Hlusko, Ronald Rowland and Mark Heston. Their wedding trip was to Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
Pam is the daughter of John and Barbara Berry Metcalfe of Fairmont. She graduated from East Fairmont High School. Chris graduated from Fairmont Senior High School and attended Fairmont State College. He was one semester from graduation at the time of his death. He worked for Monongahela Power Company for six years before starting his career in aviation. He was a flight instructor with private, commercial, instrument, multiengine and instrument instructor ratings. Chris grew up on the family's homestead on Bunner Ridge near Fairmont with a great love of motorcycles and skiing. His love for flying developed after his father purchased an airplane and began teaching him to fly. It is ironic that I (Rex Lake, author of this book and Chris' father) taught my three sons to love motorcycles and flying and this is my second son to die doing the things we all loved so much.
I thought after Kenny died that nothing could be worse than losing a son. Now we face the loss of another son. Chris was my son, but he was also my friend. We talked flying every day. He stopped on his way home at night to tell me his experiences from his instructing for the day. I shared with him my flight adventures in the navy P-3 that I flew with the reserves for 23 years. Every day brings some painful remembrance of things we did or talked about. His big dream was to fly for the major airlines, and he was well on his way to that goal when his accident dashed his dreams and that of his family forever.
Chris had flown a passenger to North Carolina on July 12, 1990 and was on his way home alone when he tangled with a severe thunderstorm over southern Virginia and his airplane disintegrated at 11,000 feet and he crashed into swampy woods near Disputanta, Virginia. It was two days before he was found. The following article was published in the Times-West Virginian in Fairmont at the time of his death:
LOCAL MAN DIES IN PLANE CRASH
"Searchers yesterday found the body of a Fairmont man in the wreckage of his single engine plane that crashed Thursday (July 12, 1990) in a heavily wooded area of Sussex County, Virginia. A Coast Guard helicopter from Elizabeth City, North Carolina spotted the wreckage of the Beechcraft 35 about 11 a.m. (Saturday, July 14, 1990), said David Carter of the Appalachian Search and Rescue Conference. Carter said rescue workers were lowered by winch to the ground where they found the body of Chris Lake, 27, an experienced pilot who had been flying alone from Holly Ridge, North Carolina to his home in Fairmont. The plane was about 200 yards from a high tension line and less than a half mile from where fragments of the plane were found in woods on Friday, Carter said.
Lt. Linda Utting of the Civil Air Patrol said officials of the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were at the wreckage trying to determine the cause of the crash. "It's in the middle of the swamp," she said. "It's very dense woods." The last radar contact with Lake's plane was 6:40 p.m. Thursday when the aircraft was 4 miles south of Disputanta. Utting said Friday Lake made a sharp left turn in the plane, probably to avoid heavy thunderstorms in the area.
No signal was received from the plane's emergency locator transmitter, Janet Clements, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Emergency Services, said Friday. More than 100 people joined in the search, authorities said, including the Civil Air Patrol, Virginia State Police, the Federal Aviation Administration and local volunteers. Participants also included five horse teams from Botetourt Mounted Search and Rescue, three helicopters and six airplanes."
Rev. Ralph Page and Rev. Wayne Whoolery officiated in the funeral ceremony at the Carpenter and Ford Funeral Home on Thursday July 19, 1990. Chris was buried next to his brother Kenny at the Mt. Zion Cemetery near Fairmont.
I (Rex) read a letter recently that appeared in the local paper and was attributed to an unknown Barbara Brown. I have copied the letter here and inserted my own son's names and dates in place of Mrs. Brown's sons, but the feelings she had are the same as mine, and she has presented them so much better than I could have done. If Barbara Brown ever reads my work, I trust she will forgive my plagiarism:
"On April 26, 1984, my 28 year old son Kenny was killed in a motorcycle accident. At that time I thought nothing could be as painful and devastating as that loss. I was wrong. On July 12, 1990, my son Chris, 27 years old, was killed in an airplane crash. The death of this second son reopened the wounds of my previous loss. It was a struggle to hang onto my sanity. I knew in my heart that my sons would not want me to give up on life. They were so full of fun and laughter. They would expect me to pull myself together and carry on. I knew I had to do it for them. The night after Kenny died, I wrote these words to be read at his funeral (Mrs. Brown's words, not actually read for Kenny). When Chris died, I reread them. I would like to share them with you. Here they are:
'If God said to me: 'you can choose or not choose to have a son, Kenny. If you choose to have a son Kenny, he will have shiny hair and sparkling eyes and a great sense of humor. He will be a ray of sunshine in your life and cheer you on when you are down. But you can have him for only 28 years. And when he leaves, you must pay a great price for those 28 years. That price will be deep sorrow.' I would still choose to have Kenny.'
'And if God said to me: 'when he goes, you can choose for him to have a lingering, painful death, one that would help you adjust to his leaving and give you a chance to say goodbye. Or you can choose for him to go quickly and painlessly. But if you choose for him to go quickly and painlessly, you must pay a great price, and that price is deep sorrow.' I would choose a quick and painless death for Kenny.'
These words could easily have been written for Kenny and Chris Lake.
(1) Family records of Rex Lake.
(2) The Times-West Virginian, Fairmont, West Virginia.
(3) Marion County (WV) Birth Book 12 - Page 137 (Chris).
(4) Letter of Barbara Brown.
More About CHRIS ALAN LAKE:
Burial: July 19, 1990, Fairmont, WV - Mt. Zion Cemetery
Education: Grad. - East Fairmont High, Attend. Fairmont State College
Hobby: Motorcycles - Airplanes - Skiing
Occupation: Flight Instructor
More About CHRIS LAKE and PAMELA METCALFE:
Marriage: August 08, 1986, Fairmont, WV - Valley Chapel United Methodist Church
Child of CHRIS LAKE and PAMELA METCALFE is:
i.
COURTNEY MICHELLE9 LAKE, b. September 26, 1988.
Notes for COURTNEY MICHELLE LAKE:
(1) Family records of Rex Lake.
(2) Marion County (WV) Birth Records.