Vigil honors those who died in Guatemala crash, helping others
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By Jesse Fruhwirth
Standard-Examiner Staff
WEST JORDAN -- Family, friends and co-workers gathered Friday night for a candlelight vigil honoring 11 people killed in a Guatemalan plane crash this week while on a humanitarian expedition.
The vigil was held in front of CHOICE Humanitarian's headquarters in West Jordan.
Cody Odekirk, of North Ogden, went on the trip with co-workers from the Roy office of Focus Services and died in the crash.
His father, Lloyd Odekirk, and Cody had just returned from a motorcycle trip to Mexico, where they attended bullfights and visited ruins before Cody left for Guatemala.
"He loved flying, and he loved helping people, so he died doing exactly what he loved to do," Lloyd Odekirk told the assembly.
Peggy Frost, of Ogden, was Odekirk's first trainer at Focus. She said he was a fast learner and quickly advanced in the company.
She had fond words, too, for Morgan resident John Carter, an information technology specialist at Focus who also died in the crash.
"John would tease me a lot. I would have computer problems, and it was up to him to get it fixed, so I would bribe him with candy," she said, wiping away tears while smiling, too.
Focus Services CEO John Porter told the crowd that he and his family went on a volunteer expedition with CHOICE three years ago and wanted some of his best employees to share the same experience he had.
"It still has the possibility to be life-changing in positive ways," Porter said of the tragedy before launching into a poem dedicated to the unsung heroes in our midst.
Not all those killed were Utahns. Two Focus employees from an Iowa office also died, as well as three CHOICE employees, one from Utah and two from Guatemala. A five-member family from Minnesota lost three members.
The crash's three survivors were Dan Liljenquist, of Bountiful, also of Focus, and two members of the Minnesota family.
Chris Johnson, whose wife, Liz, was the expedition leader and died in the crash, approached the podium with his 6-year-old son, Asher, in his arms.
Asher appeared to be sleeping at first, but as Johnson spoke, he began to sniffle and cry as his father began to cry.
"She left me with three amazing beams of light," Johnson said, referring to his children. "These were people who gave their lives trying to make the world a better place."
CHOICE Humanitarian board member Lou Swain reiterated that message and urged the crowd to improve the world. "Go beyond the thought, 'I would like to be involved,' " he said.
More information on the crash and links to donate to the surviving families and the aid mission they died serving can be found at choicehumanitarian.org.
Reader Comments
He enjoyed the bulls getting killed in bullfights? Then this served him right. Now he knows what fear and pain are like.
I am so shocked by the insensibility of a comment just posted. This boy has never harmed any creature.