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Former Blair Man Died In Columbus Plane Crash

Services for a 49 year old former Blair man will be held on Thursday, November 29th. The services are for Don Peterson who was believed to be the pilot of a twin-engine Piper Aztec airplane that crashed near Columbus Sunday evening.

Mr. Peterson was a 1948 graduate of Blair High School where he was an outstanding football player. He also attended Dana College for a time before moving to Fremont. He married a former Blair girl, Marjorie J. Smith who also graduated from Blair High.

The services will be at 2 p.m. in the Lattin-Dugan-Chambers Funeral Chapel in Fremont.

Peterson, 49, was a prominent Fremont realtor and former city councilman. He had served as vice president of economic development for the Fremont Chamber of Commerce and was a former president of the Fremont Industrial Foundation. At the time of his death, he was a member of the mayor’s committee to help revitalize the area left vacant by the Hotel Pathfinder explosion building construction.

The cause of a Sunday evening plane crash in which six Fremont residents were killed is yet to be determined.

Officials of the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board continued today to search through the rubble of the twin engine Piper Aztec air-plane which crashed in a cornfield northeast of Columbus.

Killed in the crash were Fremont businessman Don Peterson, pilot, Willis and Mava Lee Tank, Jan Losee and her 14-year-old son Timothy, and Margaret Hayden, mother of Mrs. Tank and Mrs. Losee.

He is survived by his wife, Marjorie J. (Smith) and three children, Amy, 17, Jeffrey J. and Steven M. All live in Fremont. He is also survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Peterson of Santa Ana, California; two sisters, Mrs. Joyce Allen of Santa Ana and Mrs. Barbara Murphy of California; a brother, Wayne Peterson of Laguna Beach, California; and two grandchildren.

Don Peterson’s father, Howard Peterson, was in the Chrysler-Plymouth business in Blair at the time Don was going to school in Blair. Later Howard and his son Don went into the same business in Fremont. Don then expanded into other businesses in Fremont. These included real estate, insurance and steel.

Platte County Attorney Paul Schumacher, who led Monday’s initial investigation of the crash, said while there has been some speculation, investigators have not said why the plane plunged to the ground. Schumacher said some people in the Columbus area had said there was fog and mist about the time of the crash.

Peterson was an instrument rated and experienced pilot, Schumacher said.

W.J. Ryan of the Lincoln-based FAA, said he did not know when a cause would be established. He said investigators are probing several factors which may have led to the accident. Preliminary investigation shows that the plane went into the ground with a high speed spiraling dive.

An autopsy on the body of Peterson is being conducted at Lincoln General Hospital. The pilot’s autopsy is normal procedure in plane crashes, required by federal law, officials said.

The victims had flown from Fremont to Columbus Sunday, leaving Fremont Municipal Airport about 3:55 p.m. They attended an antique auction at the Columbus Holiday Inn. Schumacher said the plane landed at the Columbus Airport about 5 p.m., and the group was seen at the motel from about 5:30-6:15. They were taken to the airport sometime between 6:15-6:45 p.m. and takeoff time was estimated at 7. Schumacher said the accident probably occurred between 7-7:30.

There have been at least four plane crashes in the Fremont area in the last two years. On October 25, 1977, four members of an Iowa family were killed in a crash near Blair. On November 20, 1977, two Lincoln National Guardsmen were killed in an accident near Dodge. On August 8, 1978, four adults were killed when the plane hit power lines east of the Platte River Bridge between North Bend and Morse Bluffs. And on January 26, 1979, two Nebraska Game and Park Commission members died when their plane crashed on the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge east of Blair.

Note: Since the actual death date was not given, the news article date was used.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~