Church struggles after plane crash
By Michael Overall, Staff Writer
Tulsa World
9/7/2009

The minister originally planned a joyful sermon for Sunday morning to
recognize all the blessings received by Park Plaza Church of Christ.

"Instead," Mitch Wilburn informed the congregation as the service started,
"today is a different kind of Lord's Day."

Behind the pulpit, a large projection screen displayed photos of five
longtime church members who died Saturday morning in a private plane crash.

The six-passenger Piper went down near a baseball field just west of Tulsa,
apparently after hitting a guy wire for a tower while flying through heavy
fog.

The pilot, Dr. Stephen Lester, died along with his wife, Dana, their
daughters 16-year-old Laura and 13-year-old Christina, and another Tulsa
doctor, Ken Veteto.

With the tragedy striking barely 24 hours before Sunday's service got under
way, the congregation struggled with an age-old question: How can bad
things happen to good people?

"For some of you, there's anger," Wilburn said, as several church members
could be heard sobbing. "For some, there's serious questioning like you've
never done before."

Investigation continues
Meanwhile, federal investigators examined the crash site at Chandler Park,
about 10 miles northwest of where the plane took off from Jones-Riverside
Airport.

A team from the National Transportation Safety Board plans to take the
wreckage to a storage facility in Dallas for further examination, said NTSB
investigator Bill Gamble.

Gamble spent much of Saturday and all of Sunday at the crash site and at
the airport as part of the initial investigation into the cause of the
crash.

"He shouldn't have been that low," Gamble said. "He should have continued
to climb."

Instrument flight rules give pilots a route and altitude at which to fly,
and normally in clear or foggy weather, Lester should have been higher, he
said.

Gamble said a preliminary report on the crash should be finished by the end
of this week. It will be based on interviews with flight instructors and
others Lester has flown with, and eyewitness accounts, he said.

A team of five investigators, including one from the FAA and an engineer
who specializes in building the same type of engine of the six-passenger
Piper that Lester was flying, will conduct the investigation, Gamble said.

A final NTSB report, which will also include Lester's piloting experience,
medical condition, weather and possible engine problems, will not be
complete for six months, Gamble said.

When they crashed, Veteto and the Lesters were on their way to Dallas to
watch the University of Oklahoma Sooners open the football season in the
new Cowboys Stadium.

A big fan of both teams, Veteto decorated his office at the Warren Clinic
with OU and Dallas memorabilia. And he was a deacon at Park Plaza church,
where he organized the annual Christmas parties.

"He was a very funny guy who wasn't afraid to make fun of himself," said
Dr. Joe Reese, who not only attended Park Plaza church with Veteto, but
also practiced medicine with him for nearly 20 years and had known him
since childhood.

"He would poke fun at others, as well, but always in a good-natured way."

School service
As news of the plane crash spread Saturday, several dozen classmates and
faculty met with grief counselors at Metro Christian Academy, where Laura
and Christina Lester attended school.

Counselors will be available again Tuesday, when the school also plans to
have a memorial service.

"It's a very close-knit community here," said Headmaster Tim Cameron.
"We're all feeling this loss."

Lester specialized in pain management, and his wife had been an intensive
care nurse for infants.

They are survived by a daughter, Sarah, who attends OU; and a son, Matthew,
who is in the Coast Guard.

Veteto is survived by his wife, Carrie; a son, Cody, who is a senior at
Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas; and a daughter, Carissa,
who is a high school senior in Tulsa.

At Sunday morning's service, where a crowd of hundreds left only a few
scattered seats empty, Wilburn urged church members not to let their grief
destroy their faith.

"This is not a time to push away from your church family," he said. "This
is a time to draw closer to each other and cling to each other."

Funeral services
Visitation for Stephen, Dana, Laura and Christina Lester will be held 6 to
9 p.m. Wednesday at Floral Haven Funeral Home in Broken Arrow, with
services at 10 a.m. Thursday at Park Plaza Church of Christ, 5925 E. 51st
St. Floral Haven is handling arrangements.

Services for Ken Veteto will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the church. Moore’s
Southlawn Chapel is handling arrangements.

Several doctors killed in recent small-plane crashes
Doctors Stephen Lester and Ken Veteto were the fourth and fifth Tulsa
physicians to die in small plane crashes since 2006, according to Tulsa
World archives.

Tulsa obstetrician Dr. Rhonda Lunn, 51, was a passenger in a small plane
that crashed Oct. 17, 2007, in Glenpool. She was killed along with her
three children, Kathryn Lunn, 16, and twins Michael Lunn and Adrienne Lunn,
both 14, and the pilot, the Rev. Bill Wiseman Jr., 63.

Dr. Guy Baldwin, 60, of Tulsa, died Oct. 4, 2006, when he crashed while
piloting an aerobatic plane at the Tucumcari Air Show in New Mexico.

Baldwin’s friend and business partner, physician William R. Barnes, died
July 2, 2006, after his Cessna 180K crashed in a rural Owasso neighborhood,
seriously injuring Barnes’ then 11-year-old grandson.