(CORRECTIONVILLE, IA) People are mourning the deaths of two men after a small airplane crashed just south of Correctionville, Iowa, Saturday night.
The accident also critically injured the pilot.
"Jimmy had a big trucking business, Lee had his electrician business, Gaylen is still a big part of the body shop here in town. Three huge guys. Nobody knows what to do next," says Jackie Susie, a Correctionville resident.
55-year-old Jimmy Smith, 53-year-old Lee Schroeder and 70-year-old Gaylen Knaack were on their way back from Grand Island, Nebraska around 8 o'clock on Saturday, December 1st.
Moments away from the grass runway, Knaack's small plane crashed, killing Smith and Schroeder, and critically burning Knaack.
"I called some friends and they said, well, Lee was one of them, and you just go numb, you go empty. It didn't happen. Everybody involved in this will surely be missed," says Marvin Handke, a friend of Lee Schroeder and resident of Correctionville.
A few months ago, Gaylen sold his body shop business to his employee Bob Beazley, who can't believe what happened.
"It just hit me right in the heart. Like I said, I've known his for over 20 years and after my dad died, he was like a second father to me," says Beazley.
Employees at Club Casmo in Correctionville say all three guys came here often.
"It's hard for me coming into work today, knowing he was just here last week, looking at the chair that he was sitting in, knowing that he's never coming back," says Susie.
Schroeder volunteered with ambulance and fire services for 30 years, and was supposed to dress as Santa for the Anthon Christmas Carnival. Even as they cope with this tragedy so close to the holidays, people are reminding each other there is hope.
"They'll both be missed, and just keep Gaylen in your heart and your mind and your prayers," says Handke.
"Everybody in the town is pulling for him, I'm pulling for him very hard myself," says Beazley.
Autopsies are being performed on both bodies. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are conducting an investigation into what happened.
Funerals are set for Schroeder and Smith. When we have details, we'll post them here.
Hleigh@Siouxlandnews.com
www.facebook.com/heatherleighKMEG
