4 killed in Virginia plane crash to be remembered in Indiana

FAIRLAND, Ind. – An Indiana high school is planning a celebration of life for four community members who died in a small plane crash that killed all six people on board in Virginia.

Tuesday’s event in the gymnasium of Triton Central High School in Fairland will honour Lisa Borinstein, 52, and two of her children, 19-year-old Luke and 15-year-old Emma, as well as Maren Timmermann, 15, an exchange student from Berlin, Germany.

Luke Borinstein was a graduate of the suburban Indianapolis high school, Emma was a sophomore, and Maren was a junior.

Grief counsellors were at the school on Monday. Northwestern Consolidated School District Superintendent Chris Hoke described Triton Central as a close-knit community that would rally around the families.

“The full breadth of our school campus and resources will be made available to the families and our community, as we begin the healing process together,” he said.

Hoke said teachers talked to students Monday about the plane crash.

“Of all the lessons that they will teach today, certainly, and maybe in their careers, the lesson they will teach today to our students is how you handle events like this is the most important,” he said. “They’ve taken that to heart.”

The plane’s 64-year-old pilot, William C. Hamerstadt of Carmel, Indiana, and owner, Robert D. Ross of Louisville, Kentucky, also died during an aborted landing at Shannon Airport in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Hamerstadt was a retired Marine who served in both Persian Gulf wars.