TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Lutz Pilot, Ex-St. Pete Resident Among Plane Crash Victims

Photo from Nicole Yarber

Clay Yarber, here with his daughter Nicole, was scheduled to fly from California to Newark and continue on to Buffalo.

ADVERTISEMENT

By HOWARD ALTMAN | The Tampa Tribune
and GEOFF FOX | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 13, 2009

Updated: 02/13/2009 06:26 pm

TAMPA - One was a drummer in high school who grew up to be a pilot.

One was a guitar player who turned down a chance to play with Blue Oyster Cult after returning from the Vietnam War.

Both men had roots in the Tampa Bay area.

Both died in the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in New York.

The pilot, Marvin Dean Renslow, lived in Lutz in Pasco County with his wife Sandy and their two children.

Passenger Clay Yarber, a wounded Vietnam War hero, resided in Pinellas County until last year.

The commuter plane they were in crashed into a house late Thursday near Buffalo, sparking a fiery explosion that killed all 49 people on board and one person on the ground.

"He was a gentle, sweet man; very loving," Kathy Edmundson, a neighbor and friend, said of Renslow. "He was a wonderful man."

She said she knew the Renslow family a long time, and they met through First Baptist Church of Lutz.

Marvin Renslow's family said he died while living his dream.

Proud of his accomplishments as a pilot, his family said in a statement this afternoon that they believe he did "everything he could to save as many people as he could."

Renslow lived in the Willow Bend community in Land O' Lakes. His wife, Sandra, works at Pine View Elementary School in Land O' Lakes.

Alan Burner, a pastor at First Baptist Church of Lutz read the family's statement, and passages from the Bible, in the shade of the church's entrance. The family had attended the church since 1997. He said family members' faith is helping them through their grief.

"They know that life does not end on this earth," said Burner, surrounded by church members. "His eternal life has just begun."

Burner did not take questions from media. He said several church members have been with the family since early this morning.

"He was a loving husband and father, and [his family] returned that love to him," Burner said. "Their love for him continues. They're proud of his accomplishments as a pilot. They know he did everything he could to save as many people as he could."

Burner turned to leave when he was done. He got a few feet before he collapsed against a large white column, head in his arm, sobbing.

As a pilot, Renslow had no prior accidents, incidents or enforcements, according to Roland Herwig of the Federal Aviation Administration. Renslow was certified to fly multi-engine aircraft and had to wear corrective lenses, according to FAA records.

Renslow joined Pinnacle Airlines, which operated the flight, on Sept. 9, 2005, according to the company.

"He was a great guy," said Jeff Hiser, a friend from Shenandoah, Iowa, where Renslow grew up. "He was part of the family. His mother, Shirley, was our babysitter. That is how our friendship developed. We remained friends throughout."

Renslow was a very good bowler and an even better drummer, said Hiser, the Dean of Students at Shenandoah High School, where he and Renslow graduated in 1979.

"He was a great drummer," said Hiser. "He had his trap set at home. He could really play the drums."

Hiser said it had been a year since he last saw his friend. But he has spoken with Renslow's mother and sister several times since word broke about the crash.

"They are having a really rough time," he said. "His mom wondered, 'Why? Why take him now?' Then our chat turned to how he perished doing what he loved to do."

In St. Petersburg, Michele Keratsis was in "a sustained emotional limbo" from Thursday night until this morning.

The limbo ended shortly after 7 a.m., when she received confirmation that Yarber, her ex-husband, was also one of the 50 people who died in the crash.

"Clay was flying from California to Newark and continuing on to Buffalo," she said. "He called the party that would be picking him up in Buffalo and said it was time for him to get on the plane. No one has heard from him since."

The 74-seat Q400 Bombardier aircraft, operated by Colgan Air, was flying from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and preparing to land at Buffalo Niagara International Airport.

Keratsis, 45, said she and her daughter Nicole, whom Yarber adopted, tried without success to get confirmation from Continental that Yarber, 62, was a passenger. Keratsis said she and her husband divorced 3 1/2 years ago.

"They won't confirm or deny any of the passengers on the plane," Keratsis said. "We keep hearing they will not release the manifest until they notify next of kin, but no one in Clay's family has been notified. My daughter, who is Clay's daughter, is here. Nicole has been unable to get information. Her stepbrother Christopher, who lives with Clay in Los Angeles, has not been able to get information."

That changed when Keratsis received a call from one of her father's friends saying they were told Yarber was on board.

"We got confirmation at 7:15 a.m., not from Continental, but a friend of the family who is not a family member," Keratsis said. "They were able to get conformation, even though we struggled for it all night."

Nicole Yarber said she was "irate" that she had to wait so long to find out her father was dead.

The wait for news was excruciating for the family, Keratsis said.

"The waiting is so very heart-wrenching, I can't describe it," she said. "I want to comfort my daughter and stepson. Comfort them for something they don't know happened. It looks like it has, but we don't have confirmation. I know it will be a long time before they sort through wreckage, but hearing that he did board that plane, the kids can face what lies ahead. In the interim, it is a gut-wrenching wait."

Continental officials said they do not have the passenger manifest and that Colgan officials do. Colgan officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

Clay Yarber "was very generous, not only to his family, but to his friends," Nicole Yarber said. "If someone needed something, he would make sure they had it above his own needs."

She said her father was wounded while on a reconnaissance mission in Vietnam.

"He received two Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry," she said.

Yarber will be missed, Keratsis said.

"He is 6-4, a big strapping man," Keratsis said. "He was a hero to his seven children."

Yarber, she said, was married six times to five different women.

"He was very forthcoming when I began to date him," she said. "I already knew him for many years. I knew him socially, started seeing him at a club he was playing in. We fell in love and married."

The Vietnam War was a constant nemesis for Yarber, Keratsis said.

"He wanted to be married, to have a family and to stay married, and I think that any of the girls that you were to talk to would tell you the same thing. Vietnam got in the way of that again and again and again."

He played guitar in Tampa-area bands, including Power of Two and Taxi, she said.

Yarber could have played in Blue Oyster Cult, she said, but turned it down.

"He was an R&B man and didn't care for their style of music," she said.

He lived in the Bay area from 1978 until nearly a year ago, said another ex-wife, Shari Ingram.

"We met in the music industry," said Ingram, who was married to Yarber from 1984 to 1989. "We worked together for years. He was an incredible guitar player and singer."

Yarber moved to California last year to be with his son, Christopher Clay, who is also a musician, Ingram said.

"Chris is doing very poorly," she said. "They were very close and had a lot in common."

Nicole Yarber said she last spoke with her father a few weeks ago and last saw him about a year ago, when he showed up at her workplace, where she deals with tragedy on a daily basis.

"I work at Pinellas County Sheriff's Office as an emergency operator," she said.

Professionally, she deals with "other people going through other sorts of tragedy on a smaller or large scale, but it is quite different when you are watching the news and it is about your dad, and you realize the last time you saw him was the last time you are ever going to see him."

Renslow and Yarber weren't the only musicians on the flight.

Two members of jazz musician Chuck Mangione's band were among those killed on the plane that crashed into a Buffalo, New York, house, a publicist said Friday.

Publicist Sanford Brokaw identified the band members as Gerry Niewood, 64, of Rochester, N.Y., and Coleman Mellett of Maryland. Niewood played saxophone and flute and Mellett was a guitarist.

In a statement Mangione said: "I'm in shock over the horrible, heartbreaking tragedy of the crash of Flight 3407, which took the lives of my dear friends and band members. I am grieving and praying with their families and friends."

Mangione and his band were scheduled to perform Friday with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra at Kleinhans Music Hall. The concert has been postponed.

On his Plaxo.com page, pilot Renslow had three posts.

The last was from Dec. 27.

"Freezing in Newark, but not flying enough!"

A toll-free number- 800-621-3263 - has been established for families and friends of those on flight 3407. Only family members and friends should call this number. Information from The Associated Press, Tribune reporter Geoff Fox, News Channel 8 reporters Chip Osowski and Natalie Shepherd was used in this report. Editor Howard Altman can be reached at (813) 259-7629.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT