Families Remember Loved Ones Lost In Crash

It’s been an emotional day for the Gunderson family after they learned two family members died in a plane crash Monday afternoon.

?Dad always took us to the movie,” said 9-year-old Amy Gunderson.

“Definitely my dad’s smile,? said Norman’s Gunderson’s oldest daughter, Sadie, when asked what she would miss most. ?That’s what brightened my day up.”

“The last time I saw him he had a smile from here to here,” said Isaac Gunderson’s aunt Stephne Yoshida pointing from one ear to the other.

Pilot Norman and his son Isaac were three weeks into a nine-month construction project building a Latter-day Saints chapel in Star Valley.

Norman, an electrician, worked during the week and flew home each weekend. His son, Isaac was working along side for the summer.

Isaac would have been a junior at Rigby High.

His family, friends and especially his three sisters said they will feel his loss deeply.

“I didn’t only lose a brother, I lost my best friend,? Sadie said. ?That’s really hard.”

Norman’s wife, Lauren, said it will be hard to adjust to life without her husband and son, but there is one thing that brings her a sense of peace.

“I did get to tell him I love him before I left, and I think that has given me the most peace,” Lauren said.

While their death was premature, those they left behind will remember their legacy of kindness and hard work.

“He loved his family. I think that was the thing you could see most in him,? Yoshida said. ?He was a lot like his father. He would work and work for his family.”

Norman and Lauren have five children.

Bryant, the oldest son in the family, is on an LDS mission in Southern California.

If you would like to help, family friends have set up a fund to help with funeral expenses at West Mark Credit Union under Norman and Isaac Gunderson’s names.

And in the small community of Grace, losing a neighbor has many in the town drawing even closer together.

Less than 1,000 people live in the town, and everyone seems to know each other.

At local meeting-spots like the EZ Way convenience store news of 35-year-old Kasey Crane’s death traveled fast.

Kacey’s family gathered to support each other at his in-law’s house.

Next to an outdoor fountain Kacey Crane had helped build, the family chose Crane’s LDS bishop to speak for them.

“It’s hard, and I’ve shed a lot of tears. And, you know, he’s just like one of my own sons,” Bishop Randall Stoddard said.

Kasey Crane leaves behind a wife and two young boys.