People in the Eastern Carolinas remember crash victims

The three victims who died in Friday’s Omniflight medical helicopter crash near Georgetown were all from the eastern Carolinas. The pilot, Patrick Walters of Murrells Inlet, flight paramedic Randolph "Claxton" Dove of Bladenboro and flight nurse Diana Conner of Florence died when the helicopter they were flying in crashed about one mile east of the Georgetown County Airport. The helicopter was enroute from Charleston, heading to its base in Conway.

Linda Lee said she and her family will always remember the medical flight team that took such good care of her mother when she was flown from Williamsburg Regional Hospital in Kingstree to Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Lee said she and her family were nervous about the helicopter ride but said they were put at ease when Dove said, “We’re flying with God,” Lee said they became even more relaxed when Conner talked with the family about what was going to happen and shared with the Walters’ flying history.

Lee said the exceptional team went above and beyond when it came to comforting her mother and her family. "They saved a many lives I am so sorry, my family is so sorry about what has happened. We knew that my mama was going to be taken care of when she left there, but they went above and beyond, they didn't have to take care of us, they didn't have to make us comfortable, but they did."

Meggin Gunn said going the extra mile is just the kind of treatment she would expect from her best friend, Diana Conner. Gunn, a registered nurse, worked with Conner at Williamsburg Memorial Hospital, where they lowered the flag in her memory after hearing about Friday’s crash. "Diana was hilarious, she had so much energy, she would come running into the ER, she was always forty-five minutes early for work so that she could come in and chit chat and start getting to work as quick as possible and she had the funniest little thing, she had so much energy, she was always moving, she would tap her foot or she was texting if she was outside or she always had to be doing something with her hands.”

Gunn said Conner was one of the hardest working people she ever worked with. "She was just Johnny-on-the-spot, you never had to worry about her charting, you never had to worry about her patient care, if you said jump, she said how high, she went above and beyond, every time.”

Gunn said Conner was more than just a paramedic, nurse, wife, mother, and best friend. "She was everyone's friend that she encountered and she was there for everyone and anybody who needed her and I know she would do it all over again the exact same and died doing what she loved second best, because of course here family was first."

Horry County Fire Rescue Chief Matthew Smith said Patrick Walters was a great guy who took his job very seriously, but could also laugh when it was appropriate. "His smile was infectious, and he really smiled with a lot of spirit, it would light up the place when he came in because he would kind of give you a laugh and a smile and a joke here and there.”

Smith said Walters was a pilot who could definitely be trusted in the air. "He took his job as a pilot very serious, he knew exactly what was at cost there of what he was flying, he knew there was crew members who relied on him, I tell you that guy he could land a helicopter on a postage stamp I believe."

Lee said while she only knew Walters, Conner, and Dove a short while, she will never forget them.