Edison Employees Mourned

Three Southern California Edison employees presumed dead after their company helicopter crashed into the ocean last week were remembered Wednesday by hundreds of their colleagues who crammed into a cavernous company garage and exchanged personal tributes to their bosses and friends.

Despite an audience of nearly 900, the hourlong service was remarkably intimate, with photographs and flowers and dozens of impromptu speeches from employees who wanted to share stories about the crash victims.

Shortly before the ceremony began, company officials revealed the names of the employees who were on board the helicopter last Friday. Sandra Brandligt, 33, of Whittier, David Peacor, 51, of Vista, and pilot Gorden Hodges, 65, of Corona were on their way to an early-morning business meeting on Santa Catalina Island when the crash occurred just off Huntington Beach.

It was a routine flight for Hodges, a friendly, gentle man whose smile “could make your whole day,” said friend and colleague Jim Harding. “He loved what he was doing so much. His life was about family, faith and flying.”

Both Brandligt and Peacor were mid-level managers who, despite lofty titles and responsibilities, had a way of “making people want to work with them,” said Steve Frank, who supervised Brandligt in the company’s executive development program.

Inclement weather suspended an ongoing search for the victims Wednesday. While Coast Guard rescuers called off their search on Saturday, one day after the crash, Edison officials hired an independent crew to continue the effort.

Several pieces of debris, but no bodies, have been found.

Wednesday’s service gave many employees the chance to grieve openly for the first time, and several of the victims’ relatives said they were overwhelmed by the turnout.

“It was hard to come here today, but I am so glad now that I did,” said Louise Hodges, the pilot’s wife. “Listening to everybody talk about him like that, the stories they told, it just gave me such a calm, peaceful feeling.”