THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 1, 1996 TAG: 9606290004
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 25 lines
Your article about the life and death of Beverly Johnson (`` `A Wonderful Life Cut Short,'' June 10, MetroNews) was missing some important facts that I feel need to be brought out.
She was certainly an outstanding woman and my deepest sympathies are with her family and friends. However, she was not the only interesting person on board. You were callous and disrespectful in your mentioning of ``the pilot''. You assume because he was from North Fork, Idaho, that no one would know him. I knew him for 9 years and I want you to know about him. His name was Dave Walton, he started flying helicopters back in Vietnam. He flew for the Forest Service as a pilot for wildland firefighting, and did the heliskiing in the winter. He was on of the best, most respected and experienced pilots out there. He loved flying and even built and piloted his own plane.
His two kids lost their father, his wife lost her soulmate, and a lot of us lost a friend when he was killed.
KAREN Z. RICHARDS
Norfolk, June 13, 1996 by CNB