February 12, 2012

Here’s to those folks who found the 705 blog during the past year. Thank you for taking the time to write and share.

Here’s to our loved ones.

Here’s to gentle and marked remembrance.

Moving into Autumn 2011

Today I updated the blog’s content for the first time in a few months. Over the course of the summer I found coverage from both the Chicago and Minneapolis newspapers. Important as Flight 705 was headed to Chicago that February 12th and Minneapolis was the home base of Northwest Orient. Different accounts of the accident. Different stories of the loss felt by so many.

The past few days have brought the first posts to the blog by several individuals who are well connected to 705′s saga. To hear from them is, as one of them wrote, very comforting. How remarkable, after so many decades, to connect with those who know exactly what this part of one’s past means. Especially since I’ve viewed the accident and loss of my dad through such a singular prism since 1963: what it meant to our family. Because we lived in Seattle, we weren’t connected to the communities where most of 705′s crew and passengers lived. Who knows if that would have made a difference? If, by somehow knowing other families who mourned that day, and for years afterwards, it would have made it easier?

Welcome to Kathy and Bobbi, the family of First Officer Robert K. Feller.

Six weeks later …

It has been six weeks since this blog first went up. For the first few weeks, I wondered if anyone connected to Flight 705 would find it. To help it become more “visible” in the land of Internet search hits, I contacted Ken Kaye of the Sun Sentinel newspaper. Ken had mentioned Flight 705 in several of his earlier postings in his “Storm Center” blog. He was kind enough to write a posting devoted to the Flight 705 story: a link to it is found in the “About” section of this blog.

In an effort to learn more about 705, I’ve done much thinking and digging and reaching out. Thanks to the Internet, new connections have been forged with people who know bits and pieces of the history, and have been gracious enough to share them. Chief among them has been Patrick McDonald, a Miami attorney whose family purchased land in the Everglades in the 1960s prior to it becoming a park. Patrick’s uncle was the lead investigator on the Flight 705 accident and while doing that work, purchased land nearby with Patrick’s father. Their cabin at “Iron Pot Hammock” in what is now Big Cypress National Preserve has been a treasured part of their family life ever since. Patrick’s wife, Lindsay, put together a phenomenal book about their cabin which they were kind enough to share with me.

Located about four miles from the Flight 705 accident site, Iron Pot Hammock is surrounded by beauty in many forms: wildlife, wildflowers, endless stretches of open sky. As I looked through page after page of remarkable images, I had this recurring feeling that something wasn’t adding up. Midway through the book it hit me: what I was seeing contradicted the dark, foreboding view of the Everglades that I’ve had in my head since childhood. Though I’ve traveled through much of the United States, Canada and Alaska, I’ve never been to Florida, yet carried a pretty vivid picture around of what it “looks” like, a mental image that I wasn’t even aware I was packing around. It was a pleasant change of scenery.

Yesterday evening after a long day in Seattle, I came home, settled in for the evening, and checked my email. There was the message I’d been hoping for since the blog began: someone directly affected by Flight 705′s story had found their way to the blog. [See "Comments" on this page.] I was stunned when I saw who this first comment referred to: the only other passenger on 705 from Seattle.  A technology unthinkable in 1963 has made new connections possible. Amazing.

Special thanks to Patrick and Lindsay McDonald: Here’s the link to Patrick’s story at Iron Pot Hammock: (Warning: there are some images of the 705 accident in the newscast at this site): http://www.local10.com/news/22416728/detail.html )

Special thanks to Emma for the use of her “healing path” photo, a recent project she did for her design program at Washington State University.

February 12, 2011: 48 Years Later

Every year on this date, I think of my dad, John C. Heil Jr.

I think of him at other times throughout the year, but particularly, on this day. I light a candle in his memory. I visit his gravesite. Maybe not on this exact day, but as close to it as I can, given the distance to his resting place from where I live.

Jack & Theresa: Teething remedy, 1957

My dad, known as “Jack” to his family and friends, passed away at age thirty-nine on this date in the company of forty-two others. They all shared something in common on that “Lincoln’s Birthday” of 1963: the same plane, Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 705. That flight, en route from Miami, Florida, to Chicago, Illinois, crashed thirteen minutes after takeoff killing everyone on board:  thirty-eight passengers and five crew members.

I hope this space brings a chance to share, insight, healing, information. In memory of my dad, Jack Heil, and others who flew with him that day, “Welcome to all.”

For more… please see the “About” section.