The three members of the medical helicopter crew killed in Tuesdays crash were described as dedicated professionals who loved their work.
Pilot Bob Giard, nurse Glenda Frazier Tessnear, paramedic David Bacon Jr. and an accident victim they were transporting died when the helicopter went down in Newberry County.
THE PILOT
Whether it was his bright yellow motorcycle or the Bell 407 helicopter he flew, Bob Giard chose distinctive rides.
Giard, 41, was the pilot of a medical rescue helicopter that crashed Tuesday 50 miles northwest of Columbia.
His wife, Kimburly Ahearn, said Giard loved to serve his community.
Hes just a good person. He liked to help everybody, she said.
The pilot enjoyed riding his Harley-Davidson Fat Boy motorcycle and hunting, Ahearn said. He was also proud of his sons, Christopher, 21, and Stephen, 20, who serves in the Marine Corps.
Miles Dunagan, a fellow helicopter pilot, said he spoke to Giard Monday night while Giard was on duty, and was planning to visit Giard soon to see his new motorcycle.
Dunagan, who said he had been hired to work for Dale Earnhardt just before Earnhardt was killed, said Giard comforted him at that time. He was a true friend, right there with you at a difficult moment.
Giard had 10 years experience flying helicopters and was a licensed instructor.
He moved to Spartanburg from Memphis last year when the hospital began its helicopter rescue service in May 2003. In Memphis, Giard worked as a medical pilot and also flew for a television news station. Thats how he met Dunagan.
Giard liked to help people, Dunagan said. He did it with a smile. All he needed was a bed and a meal.
THE NURSE
Glenda Frazier Tessnear had been a flight nurse at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center less than a year.
For Tessnear, who lived in Bostic, N.C., 43 miles north of Spartanburg, riding a helicopter to emergencies represented a new challenge in a health care career that spanned nearly 20 years.
She most recently had been a nurse in the medical centers intensive care unit for newborns, where her upbeat demeanor and dogged dependability distinguished her as someone people not only liked, they loved her, colleague Pauline Scott said.
Alan Curtis, 19, and a friend of Tessnears daughter, Audra, said he remembers Tessnear talking about good news from the neo-natal care unit but shielding her family from the bad news.
Thats just the way she was, Curtis said. She had a good heart.
Tessnear, 42, was well known among her daughters friends. She and her husband, Donnie, recently celebrated Audras graduation from East Rutherford High School and were preparing to send their only child off to college.
Libby Melton, who attends Mount Lebanon Baptist Church with the Tessnear family, described Glenda Tessnear as hard-working and dedicated.
She was a real Christian, Melton said. She really was dedicated to her job. Were really going to miss her.
Tessnear also was known for her devotion to her mother, who lives in an elder care facility in Gaffney.
Scott, 67 and a retired nurse, remembers when Tessnear came to work at the Spartanburg hospital straight from graduating in 1984 from the nursing program at the nearby University of South Carolina campus. She was very outgoing, very caring. She really liked people. She was at her best at the bedside taking care of people.
THE PARAMEDIC
Not long after a 13-year-old David Bacon Jr. began working with his father at a Georgia fire station, the boy realized he wanted to become a flight paramedic, his father said Tuesday.
He really got into the medical side of the work and was impressed with one of the flight paramedics we worked with, said David Bacon Sr., a 17-year volunteer fire chief in Rincon, Ga., near Savannah.
The elder Bacon said, although his son died young at 31, he had achieved his lifes goal.
For more than a year, the younger Bacon worked as a helicopter paramedic for Spartanburg Regional Health Care System, responding to heart attacks, strokes and other emergencies.
He was very happy to be doing what he was doing and had the highest admiration for the people he worked with, his father said.
Born in Cleveland, David Bacon Jr. moved with his family to Savannah at age 3. He married his high school sweetheart, Stephanie, and moved to Greenville three years ago to work as a paramedic for the Greenville County Emergency Services.
The couple had no children.
David Bacon Sr. said he misses working beside his son.
He had this great wit, a real comedic side to him. But when there was a task at hand, he was all business, all business.
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