Guatemala crash hits home / Roy company loses four sent to build school
Text 
No Comments [ Add Comment ]By Sam Cooper
Standard-Examiner Staff
SLIDESHOW: See more photos of the Guatemala Plane Crash
GUATEMALA CITY -- Several Top of Utah families are in mourning after a plane crash Sunday in Guatemala killed 11 people on a humanitarian mission.
Five employees at Focus Services, a call-center company based in Roy, were on a mission to help build a classroom in the impoverished Central American nation.
Four Focus Services employees were killed in the crash, including John Carter, 33, of Morgan; Cody Odekirk, 19, of North Ogden; Lydia Silva, 29, of Rock Falls, Ill.; and Jeff Reppe, 26, of Sterling, Ill.
Dan Liljenquist, of Bountiful, chief operating officer of Focus Services, survived the crash with severe injuries.
Lisa Carter, wife of John Carter, said her husband left Morgan on Saturday for the humanitarian mission.
"(There were) four survivors, the COO (chief operating officer) of Focus, and the other three, I was told, are women," Carter said in a phone interview Monday morning.
Later reports indicate that one of the women originally reported as a survivor has died.
"Focus takes down a couple of employees every year, and they work on building schools and hospitals and housing," she said.
"He just barely left home Saturday. He was really pumped about going. He couldn't wait to get down there and get his hands dirty and make a difference."
Stake president John Porter is a friend of the Carter family and the owner of Focus Services.
"These employees were a group that were selected out of volunteers that wanted to go, based on work performance and future leadership potential," he said. "These were some of our very best people."
Odekirk was a straight-A student who had attended one year at Weber State University after graduating from Weber High School. He had planned to go back to college this fall semester.
According to his grandmother, Vonda Odekirk, this was the first humanitarian project Cody was involved with.
"He's a very enthusiastic boy -- whatever he did, he did wholeheartedly. He just enjoyed life, and he never did anything halfway," she said. "He was really enthused about going on the trip."
Cody's mother, Lee Odekirk, said her son was a great leader. He proved that at his job because he was selected by Focus Services to go on this humanitarian effort.
His mother said he enjoyed his job and they loved him there.
"He was totally excited about the project. He wanted to go to just help people -- he was always helping people," Lee Oderkirk said. "He was a good person and a great leader at such a young age."
Cody Odekirk had a scholarship for flying lessons and had even flown solo. He was close to taking the test to get a pilot license.
According to Travis Brown, who holds a regional position based in Rock Falls, Ill., Silva was engaged to be married and was happy with her life.
Brown said Reppe was full of personality, who teased about everything and was loved by the employees and all his clients.
Focus Services has nearly 2,000 employees working in 10 facilities, both domestically and internationally, according to the company's Web site, www.focusservices.com.
The company has grief counselors available at all of its facilities for employees and has set up bank accounts for those wishing to donate to the families of the victims, Porter said.
Separate accounts for John Carter and Cody Odekirk have been established at Zions Bank in their names; accounts for Silva and Reppe have been set up at Sauk Valley Bank.
The Focus employees were participating in the humanitarian aid trip organized by CHOICE Humanitarian, an organization based in West Jordan, Porter said. CHOICE stands for the Center for Humanitarian Outreach and Inter-Cultural Exchange.
This was the fourth year Focus Services sent participants.
The other occupants of the plane were CHOICE representatives and the Jensen family, of Amery, Wis., Porter said.
Sarah Jensen, 19, who survived the crash with minor cuts and bruises, told the Associated Press she and her family were headed to a village in the area of El Estor. Jensen's brother and father were killed in the crash, and her mother had serious burns and bruises.
Liz Johnson, of West Jordan, the wife of Chris Johnson, acting chief executive of CHOICE, died at 3:15 a.m. Monday, said William Diaz, general manager of Hospital El Pilar in Guatemala City.
A Guatemalan couple well-known for their kind spirits and humanitarian efforts were also killed in the crash, said Jill Shelton, an employee of the Tanner Clinic in Layton.
Walfred de Robanales and Javier Robanales, of Guatemala City, were acting as representatives/guides for CHOICE, said Shelton, who knew the two through previous aid work. The couple had helped organize several medical missions to Guatemala for the clinic, Shelton said.
"They left three young children, and all they did was serve. He worked three jobs to help support his family. He was an LDS stake president. All she wanted to do was do good for the kids and teach them," Shelton said.
"Just to know these people was an honor. They're just incredible people, and they will be greatly missed."
Investigators are working to determine the cause of the accident.
Guatemalan Civil Aviation Director Jose Carlos said the Cessna Caravan 208 was en route to El Estor when it crashed in a field of crops about 60 miles east of Guatemala City.
The burned wreckage of the plane was scattered along the edge of a barren field lined with palm trees, said an aviation official and a survivor.
Both the pilot and the co-pilot died in the crash.
The Associated Presscontributed to this article.
Add Your Comment
