Oakland, CA Private Plane Crashed, Aug 1954

BODIES OF PLANE CRASH VICTIMS WILL BE RETURNED TO COLORADO.

Final arrangements were being completed today to return to the headquarters of their religious group in Colorado the bodies of five persons killed when their light plane crashed into the Bay yesterday.
Among the party of officials of the religious group, the Emissaries of the Divine Light, who arrived in Oakland last night, were the mothers of the two children killed in the crash.
They are MRS. LILLIAN CALL, mother of SHARON CALL, 9, and the church's musical director, and MRS. GRACE VAN DUZEN, mother of BILLY VAN DUZEN, 10.
Others killed in the crash were L. A. MEEKER, 47, bishop and head of the church, who was piloting the plane; his wife KATHLEEN, 29, and ALBERT ACKERLEY, 45, a member of the church's board of directors and a teacher at the school on the 128-acre Sunrise Ranch operated by the church near Loveland, Colo.
MRS. CALL and MRS. VAN DUZEN said they will leave for the church's Colorado headquarters late today or tomorrow with the five bodies, but that it had not yet been decided whether the trip will be by plane or train.
Also accompanying the bodies on their final trip will be MRS. MARJORIE HORNE, 801 52nd Ave., daughter of MR. MEEKER.
MR. MEEKER and his party had just ended a four-day visit at his daughter's home and were taking off from Metropolitan Oakland International Airport to return to Loveland when the crash occurred yesterday.
Witnesses said the plane took off and climbed to about 300 feet when it "got into trouble."
As MR. MEEKER apparently tried to head back to the field, the plane went into a tailspin and crashed into two feet of water off the end of the west runway.
The three adults were killed instantly, but the two children were still breathing when the first rescuers reached the scene moments after the crash. Both were pronounced dead, however, a short time later.
MR. MEEKER learned to fly in Loveland and had held a private pilot's license since 1951.
MRS. HORNE was his daughter by a previous marriage. He and MRS. MEEKER, who was his fourth wife, according to Colorado newspaper records, are survived by three children of their own, NANCY, 8; LLOYD, JR., 5; and ELLEN, 1 1/2.
MR. MEEKER'S religious group has churches in the United States, Canada and other parts of the world. It operates the Loveland ranch as a cooperative venture, with the 50 or 60 resident families working on the ranch five days a week and holding religious services on Saturday and Sunday and on Wednesday night.

Oakland Tribune California 1954-08-05
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!