TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Lutz Pilot, Musician Among Crash Victims

ADVERTISEMENT

By HOWARD ALTMAN

haltman@tampatrib.com

Published: February 14, 2009

Updated: 02/14/2009 12:22 am

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 Thursday night crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in New York.

The pilot, Marvin Dean Renslow, lived in Lutz in Pasco County with his wife and 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. Authorities are investigating the crash but say ice buildup might be to blame.

"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.

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

Alan Burner, a pastor at First Baptist Church of Lutz, read a statement from the family and passages from the Bible, in the shade of the church's entrance Friday afternoon. The family had attended the church since 1997. He said family members' faith was 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 had been with the Renslow family since early Friday 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 Colgan Air, which operated the flight, on Sept. 9, 2005, according to its parent company, Pinnacle Airlines.

"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 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," Hiser said. "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."

Family Struggled For News

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

The limbo ended shortly after 7 a.m., when she received confirmation that Clay Yarber, her ex-husband, died in the crash.

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. No mayday call came from the pilot before the crash. Federal investigators recovered the black box recorders and returned them to Washington.

Renslow had more than 3,000 hours of flying experience in 31/2 years with Colgan, which is nearly the maximum a pilot can fly within that period of time under government regulations.

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 31/2 years ago.

"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."

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 Was An R&B Man'

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 visited her at her job as an emergency operator for the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

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, 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.

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, 1-800-621-3263, has been established for families and friends of those on Flight 3407. Tribune reporter Geoff Fox, editor Cheryl Segal, and News Channel 8 reporters Chip Osowski and Natalie Shepherd contributed to this report. Informat

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT