Lenexa family sustains heavy losses in Reno air show crash
Jodi Handel points out a plane in the sky to her grandson Cage Handel, 4, at a memorial site for victims of an airplane crash in Reno, Nev., Monday, Sept. 19, 2011. The Reno Air Races were canceled after pilot Jimmy Leeward's plane crashed on Friday. Several people were killed, including Leeward, and dozens were inured.
Lenexa ? A 71-year-old Kansas woman has been reported missing while her husband, two sons and a daughter-in-law all are hospitalized with leg injuries requiring amputation after a World War II-era racing plane crashed at a Nevada air show, family members posted on a website providing updates about their conditions.
Cherie Elvin of Lenexa hasn’t been seen since the plane crashed at the Reno Air Races, the Kansas City Star reported Monday, citing her family’s website on Caring
Bridge.org, which allows families to post public and private updates about hospitalized loved ones.
Elvin’s husband, Chuck Elvin, was among the dozens of people injured and was being treated at Renown Medical Center, according to the site. The Elvins’ sons, Bill and Brian Elvin, both of Overland Park, also were being treated at Renown. Brian’s wife, Linda, was in serious condition at another hospital in the Reno area, according to the Star, which was able to view the Elvin family’s CaringBridge site before it was put on restricted access only for people authorized by the family.
Messages seeking comment and permission to access the site were left Monday with Elvin family members.
The death toll from the crash rose to 10 Monday as investigators determined several onlookers were killed on impact as the plane appeared to lose a piece of its tail before slamming into the crowded tarmac. Officials have yet to identify three of the dead and have not said whether Cherie Elvin is believed to be among them.
Bill Elvin’s wife, Rachel Elvin, had earlier posted on the CaringBridge website that all four hospitalized family members had lost part of their right leg but that their recovery prospects were promising, the Star reported.
“All four have lost some part of their right leg either at or above or below the knee,” Rachel Elvin wrote on the website.
“My goal for today is to make sure that with all the visitors in town that we always have at least one of us with each patient,” Rachel Elvin wrote. “Keep those prayers coming.”
Rachel Elvin’s father, Gary Umscheid, told the Star that his daughter and Bill Elvin have three children and that the family attended the air races each year.
“The trauma of dealing with this is going to be very, very difficult,” Umscheid said. He did not immediately return messages from The Associated Press.
Chuck Elvin was the longtime Kansas chairman of USA Wrestling, an amateur wrestling organization for students ages 6 to 18, said Mike Juby, current chairman of the Kansas organization.
Juby told the AP on Monday that Cherie Elvin also had until recently been the organization’s longtime treasurer. He said both Elvins remained active in the organization after leaving their leadership positions.







