INDIANAPOLIS — Details about a memorial service for an Indiana couple killed in a Florida plane crash have been released.
Visitation for Jeff and Patty Lumpkin is set for Friday, May 5 at East 91st Street Christian Church, located at 6049 E. 91st St., with a funeral to follow.
The Fishers couple died April 5, along with Rick and Bethe Beaver, of Noblesville, while flying from Venice to St Petersburg.
"I think in this world, we need great people, and when we lose them, you feel it hard, you feel it deeply," Nathan Peternel, lead pastor at Life Church, Fishers, previously told 13News. "They weren't just parishioners or people in the church, you know, they were friends."
Patty was a kind and caring woman, Peternel said, and a real estate agent at Carpenter Realty in Indianapolis. Jeff and he met when he came up for prayer years earlier. The pair became fast friends, and later, Jeff even served as a mentor to his own son.
"He was somebody who walked around with a big smile and just a lot of encouragement, so I think everybody that's found out is just a little bit shocked," Peternel said.
It's news that came that much harder knowing how much Jeff prided himself on aviation safety.
"He was definitely a rule follower, definitely, when it came to that, and he was always trying to tell my son, 'You've got to obey the guidelines,'" Peternel said. "So he was very much somebody who wanted to have everything in order. He would have been a by-the-book kind of guy."
Funeral services for Rick and Bethe were held Thursday, April 20.
The NTSB and FAA are currently investigating the cause of the crash.
Officials said the crash happened about a half-mile from the pier in the Gulf of Mexico in about 25 feet of water. Several witnesses saw the crash and called 911.
The single-engine plane crashed soon after takeoff as it was heading back to St. Petersburg, Florida. The couples had flown in to Venice earlier to have dinner with friends.
Witnesses told 911 dispatchers the plane started descending after passing by the iconic Sharky's On the Pier restaurant and then hitting the water. One witness said there was no fire – just a sound like an engine backfiring. Another witness, who said he was a pilot, said the "engine sounded normal," but the plane was losing a lot of altitude until it hit the water "pretty hard."
The bodies of Jeff and Rick were recovered a day before the bodies of Patty and Bethe.
Bethe founded and owned Indiana Elite Cheer and Tumbling in Noblesville. Rick served as president of Beaver Construction Management. The couple is survived by a combined seven children and nine grandchildren.