Lawreston
En-Route
I don't think we've seen Jim Pappas here, yet; but he and Debbie and family need a lot of our moral support. The following I've cut/pasted from Moxie's BABES site. It's a terrible tragedy.
HR
"This is message that we sent to some of the local pilot organizations that we belong to. I thought that you would want to see this.
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To our many pilot friends and families,
On the evening of June 23, our son Gregory Pappas was involved in a terrible accident while in pursuit of his private pilot’s license. Neither Gregory, nor his instructor survived the crash at the Flying M Ranch just west of Yamhill Oregon. Gregory’s fiancé Amanda was in the rear seat of the aircraft and is currently in the intensive care unit at the McMinnville hospital.
Words cannot explain what Debbie and I are going through right now, and as difficult as this is to write, I knew that you would want to hear from us. When we visited with Amanda yesterday, with tears in her eyes she said “Gregory died doing what he loved to do”. We are thankful that Amanda survived that horrible crash, and reaffirmed to her that she would be part of our family forever. Both Jennifer and Kimberly are home with us now, and all four of us are supporting each other through these very difficult times.
Gregory was the most loving teenager that I have ever known. His love and respect for his mother was so deep, and so unwavering that I cannot even begin to describe it in words. Two years ago, Gregory and I spent the summer flying our plane around the U.S. and during that time… he became much more than my son… he became my best friend in life. Since then, I have spent countless hours with Gregory discussing flying, technology, boy scouts, and the life that he was preparing to spend with Amanda. He was studying engineering at PCC, and received a 4.0 average in his most recent semester. Upon reaching his 18th birthday, Gregory became an assistant scout master, and for the past several months he had been camping with his boys nearly every weekend. In just a few weeks, Gregory would have been a leader of the Portland troop’s attendance at the National Boy Scout Jamboree in Washington DC… a two week long event with many thousands of scouts.
Gregory was pursuing a long time dream of becoming a pilot. His instructor called me on Wednesday afternoon… the day before their tragic death and said “Gregory is the most amazing pilot that I have ever instructed”. Greg had soloed after about 6 hours of dual. His instructor told me that Greg would be prepared to be a pilot long before the required 40 hours of training, and that they would be “filling the time” doing advanced instrument training, and shooting ILS approaches. Greg was so proud to tell me about his solo flights into Hillsboro and McMinnville, as well as his time with his instructor doing landings at Twin Oaks, Woodland and other challenging airports. I wish you could see the pride on his face as I read “PDX” from his logbook. A good pilot friend told me that he heard Greg on the radio, and said “You would never know that Gregory was a student pilot other than the fact that he announced it”.
Gregory touched so many people’s lives, and we are overwhelmed by the sympathy from across the community. We appreciate your love very much, and we want you to know that you are helping us cope with this tragedy more than you can imagine.
We will be holding a “Celebration of Life” for Gregory on Thursday evening and a Funeral Service on Friday morning. We would be honored to have your presence at these services.
Finally, in memory of our loving son, we want to conclude that we will all miss him so very much.
Sincerely, Jim and Debbie Pappas and Family
The details of the services for Gregory Pappas will be as follows:
Location of both services:
St Pius X Catholic Church
1280 NW Saltzman Rd,
Portland, OR 97229
Thursday June 30, 2005:
7:00 PM - “Celebration of Life” gathering for Gregory
St Pius X Catholic Church
Friday July 1, 2005:
11:00 AM - Funeral Mass
Reception following at the Church Community Center
Private family Committal Service and Burial at Mt Calvary Cemetery
In Lieu of flowers:
In Memory of Gregory Pappas
Boy Scouts of America
Cascade Pacific Council
2145 SW Naito Pkwy
Portland, OR 97201
Reply to:Very Sad News - From: Firecat To:All 06-24-05 2331Z"
HR
"This is message that we sent to some of the local pilot organizations that we belong to. I thought that you would want to see this.
-----------------------------------------
To our many pilot friends and families,
On the evening of June 23, our son Gregory Pappas was involved in a terrible accident while in pursuit of his private pilot’s license. Neither Gregory, nor his instructor survived the crash at the Flying M Ranch just west of Yamhill Oregon. Gregory’s fiancé Amanda was in the rear seat of the aircraft and is currently in the intensive care unit at the McMinnville hospital.
Words cannot explain what Debbie and I are going through right now, and as difficult as this is to write, I knew that you would want to hear from us. When we visited with Amanda yesterday, with tears in her eyes she said “Gregory died doing what he loved to do”. We are thankful that Amanda survived that horrible crash, and reaffirmed to her that she would be part of our family forever. Both Jennifer and Kimberly are home with us now, and all four of us are supporting each other through these very difficult times.
Gregory was the most loving teenager that I have ever known. His love and respect for his mother was so deep, and so unwavering that I cannot even begin to describe it in words. Two years ago, Gregory and I spent the summer flying our plane around the U.S. and during that time… he became much more than my son… he became my best friend in life. Since then, I have spent countless hours with Gregory discussing flying, technology, boy scouts, and the life that he was preparing to spend with Amanda. He was studying engineering at PCC, and received a 4.0 average in his most recent semester. Upon reaching his 18th birthday, Gregory became an assistant scout master, and for the past several months he had been camping with his boys nearly every weekend. In just a few weeks, Gregory would have been a leader of the Portland troop’s attendance at the National Boy Scout Jamboree in Washington DC… a two week long event with many thousands of scouts.
Gregory was pursuing a long time dream of becoming a pilot. His instructor called me on Wednesday afternoon… the day before their tragic death and said “Gregory is the most amazing pilot that I have ever instructed”. Greg had soloed after about 6 hours of dual. His instructor told me that Greg would be prepared to be a pilot long before the required 40 hours of training, and that they would be “filling the time” doing advanced instrument training, and shooting ILS approaches. Greg was so proud to tell me about his solo flights into Hillsboro and McMinnville, as well as his time with his instructor doing landings at Twin Oaks, Woodland and other challenging airports. I wish you could see the pride on his face as I read “PDX” from his logbook. A good pilot friend told me that he heard Greg on the radio, and said “You would never know that Gregory was a student pilot other than the fact that he announced it”.
Gregory touched so many people’s lives, and we are overwhelmed by the sympathy from across the community. We appreciate your love very much, and we want you to know that you are helping us cope with this tragedy more than you can imagine.
We will be holding a “Celebration of Life” for Gregory on Thursday evening and a Funeral Service on Friday morning. We would be honored to have your presence at these services.
Finally, in memory of our loving son, we want to conclude that we will all miss him so very much.
Sincerely, Jim and Debbie Pappas and Family
The details of the services for Gregory Pappas will be as follows:
Location of both services:
St Pius X Catholic Church
1280 NW Saltzman Rd,
Portland, OR 97229
Thursday June 30, 2005:
7:00 PM - “Celebration of Life” gathering for Gregory
St Pius X Catholic Church
Friday July 1, 2005:
11:00 AM - Funeral Mass
Reception following at the Church Community Center
Private family Committal Service and Burial at Mt Calvary Cemetery
In Lieu of flowers:
In Memory of Gregory Pappas
Boy Scouts of America
Cascade Pacific Council
2145 SW Naito Pkwy
Portland, OR 97201
Reply to:Very Sad News - From: Firecat To:All 06-24-05 2331Z"
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