In loving memory of my wonderful father, ED ELDER (5/4/38 – 9/22/00), who died while doing what he loved best ~ flying and saving lives. Dad was a founder and the President of “Flights For Life,” a humanitarian organization that transported needed emergency blood supplies and aided in all areas of medical emergencies in the state of Arizona and throughout the southwest. Many lives have been touched and saved by the efforts of these men and women who volunteer their time, planes and loving concern for all. On the night of Sept. 22, 2000 my father went along on such a mission to transport needed blood for a waiting patient in the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona. He was passenger on that late nights flight to keep the pilot company, as the Flight Team members often do. They never made it. The plane was declared “missing” late that night and a search began early the next morning. The plane’s wreckage and the bodies of my father and the pilot were found that afternoon, crashed on a mesa in a remote part of the Painted Dessert, just 1 1/2 miles from the airstrip. Why their plane crashed? We may never know. But I do know that my dad is in a better place now, maybe flying with his own wings. I pray everyday that God had a reason to take these two fallen heroes from us. I pray that they are continuing to save lives, in a new way, wherever they are. My dad may be gone from our sight, but he will live forever in my heart! 

Daddy, I love and miss you so much! I am proud to be your daughter, and I will always carry on your message and works of good will. Please watch over me.
Love, Your Daughter

Teresa Bennett lost her father aboard a “Flights for Life” crash