Dallas Crash Claimed Two From County

Two Orange County men were among those who lost their lives Friday in the crash of a Delta Air Lines L-1011 jetliner during a storm at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

The victims, both of whom had been on business trips and visits to relatives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., were Kevin Cassedy, 53, of Laguna Beach and Ramon Robert Hooke, 54, of Tustin.

Cassedy was the owner of an aerospace marketing consulting firm, Cassedy and Associates. He had owned and resided in an apartment building on Cleo Street for the past 12 years with his wife, Judith, director of Chapman College’s child-care program.

The couple had six children--including two teen-agers still living at home--and two granddaughters, the youngest only a month old.

A graduate of Stanford University, Cassedy had retired only two weeks ago from the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, having attained the rank of colonel, according to Mary Jo Mancuso, a close friend of the family.

“That was a very proud thing in his life,” she said. “Stanford, the Marines, the church and his family. They were his life.”

Lilian Carlson, who rented an apartment in Cassedy’s building, said: “I knew that as a tenant of his, he was probably the finest landlord anybody ever had. Just very understanding. People liked him. He was a very sweet man.”

Another tenant, Mary Zangener, said Cassedy was “a gentleman, a real gentleman. He was very kind, always in a good mood, very polite, a wonderful father. I’m very sorry for what has happened to this family.”

Cassedy’s 24-year-old son Paul said simply: “He was the sweetest man I ever knew.”

Friends said Cassedy, in Fort Lauderdale on business and to visit his father, had originally planned to take a later flight to Ontario, but switched to the Delta flight because it arrived home earlier. His two oldest sons had already gone to the airport to meet the plane when they learned of the crash.

A rosary is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. tonight at St. Catherine’s Catholic Church in Laguna Beach. The funeral mass will be held Tuesday at 10 a.m.

Hooke, an architectural engineer for Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc., had been a resident of Village Drive in Tustin for the last 10 years.

According to neighbors, Hooke, a frequent traveler who supervised construction of new Toyota dealerships throughout the United States, had nearly missed the flight.

“I know he had a relative who took him to the airport. They were late getting to the airport, and they almost missed the plane. Whoever took him felt really bad that they made it,” said Miles Clark Hamilton, who attends Tustin High School with Hooke’s 16-year-old daughter, Stacey.

“He was a really nice guy. He was the type that was always helping kids with their skateboards, you know,” Hamilton said.

Hooke, a native of England, was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.

He is also survived by his wife, Elaine, and another daughter, Julie, 22. Funeral arrangements are not yet complete.