Funeral for Young Pilot Celebrates Her Love of Flying

To the strains of “I’ll Fly Away,” the 7-year-old pilot who died trying to become the youngest person to fly across America was mourned Monday as a child who could “reach into your soul.”

Jessica Dubroff’s mother, Lisa Hathaway, caressed the white casket containing her daughter’s remains as she remembered the child killed Thursday in the crash of her light plane in Cheyenne, Wyo. Flowers and a small blue airplane decorated the casket.

“She knew how to reach into your soul and stay there,” she told some 200 people who had gathered in a foggy drizzle at a small cemetery in this community about 40 miles south of San Francisco.

“Her joy didn’t shift,” she said, appearing composed and calm. “It was so beautiful, she didn’t make it [the record] mean anything.”

Jessica, her father, Lloyd, and flight instructor Joe Reid were killed in the crash, which occurred during a morning storm as the plane attempted to take off.

The record bid was lost on the first leg, Hathaway had said earlier, because Reid had flown the plane while Jessica napped. She said he also landed the plane in Cheyenne and apparently was at the controls during the ill-fated takeoff.

Her 9-year-old brother, Joshua, who reportedly planned to fly over the service, was grounded by the bad weather and was at the grave site.

The funeral was an impromptu affair, beginning in the backyard of Jessica’s home with people singing folk songs.

The mourners then took the casket to a house where Jessica used to live, setting it in the backyard overlooking lush pastures. Cows could be heard lowing in the background, and birds twittered as the songs were sung.

Then the casket was loaded in the bed of a green pickup and driven slowly to the cemetery.

A funeral Mass for flight instructor Joe Reid was said Monday morning. More than 500 people attended a vigil for Reid Sunday evening. Lloyd Dubroff’s funeral was planned for today.

The trio took off last Wednesday from Half Moon Bay, Calif., with a destination of Falmouth, Mass. Investigators have said the plane was carrying too much weight at takeoff.