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When 10 people died in a plane crash in Moab this summer, thousands grieved. For southern Utah, it was the tragedy of 2008.
"Most of the people that were in the accident, I had personal relationships with. I knew a lot of them," said Todd Thorley, a teacher at Cedar High School.
They were dermatologists, all working for Southwest Skin and Cancer in Cedar City. Led by Dr. Lansing Ellsworth, the team flew to several southern Utah communities offering cancer screenings to patients in the rural areas.
JoAnn Peak, one of Ellsworth's patients, said of him, "Dr. Ellsworth, for me, was one of a kind. And you know, when you would go in his office he would always remember your name without even looking at his chart."
On Aug. 23, after wrapping up a day-long clinic in Moab, the group's twin-engine plane mysteriously crashed just after take-off from Canyonlands Airport, killing nine citizens and the pilot.
Cedar City Mayor Gerald Sherratt said, "In more than three quarters of a century there has never been such a tragic event in Cedar City."
In the days that followed, hundreds mourned the tremendous loss. It was pain that inspired students at Cedar City High School's cabinet-making class to begin work on a special memorial. They crafted cedar chests. On the inside of the lid, each one had an image of one of the victims and a message.
One said, "Like the blankets in this chest, my arms will wrap around you to let you know I'm close, keeping you safe and warm always."
"We did it basically for the kids of all the families, because they're the ones who are not gonna grow up with the family members who were killed," said Heidi Thorley, a student in the cabinetmaking class.
As 2008 wraps up, it's still unclear why the plane crashed and burned. The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report in September, but it only said there was no in-flight structural failure.
E-mail: gkennedy@ksl.com
