By Lillian Kwon , Christian Post Reporter
May 16, 2012, 1:09 p.m.
Hannah Luce, daughter of Teen Mania founder Ron Luce, is continuing to improve as she recovers from a plane crash last Friday. She was the sole survivor among the five on board.
"The fact that Hannah is here with us is a miracle, and while I am overjoyed and so thankful to God that she's here, I am also deeply saddened at the loss of Austin, Stephen, Garrett and Luke," Ron Luce wrote Tuesday on his blog. "I can't even begin to understand the pain their parents are feeling right now."
Memorial services for Garrett Coble, Stephen Luth, Luke Sheets (pilot), and Austin Anderson are scheduled for this week.
Luce told the "Today" show Wednesday that his 22-year-old daughter is talking and just yesterday began recounting the events surrounding the crash. He did not provide details, but said Hannah was awake throughout the entire ordeal, from the time the 8-seater plane took off from an airport in Tulsa, OK, to the moment it landed in a field in Kansas, skidded and then burst into flames after hitting trees.
"When she is ready, she'll tell her story," Ron Luce said.
The group of five friends were on their way to an "Acquire the Fire" event, led by Teen Mania, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. According to Teen Mania spokesperson Cindy Mallette, they had decided to fly rather than drive to the May 11-12 rally where thousands of teens would be worshiping and getting fired up to live for God.
[Editor's Comment: I am grateful to my first cousin, Mary Anne Shropshire Weeks, of Richmond, VA, for sending the website of Ron Luce to get this story. Mary Anne is a blood relative of Melvine whose mother was a Shropshire, and Mary Anne's father was a Shropshire, and Frances and Wesley were a brother and sister.
All of us were deeply moved by the report of the airplane crash last week and those who lost their lives. They were all connected with Oral Roberts University.
Posted on
Thu, May 17, 2012
by Hugh Morgan