Feb 23, 2007

Dallas Johnson Greenhouse Employees Die In Plane CrashSource: Various

On Feb. 16, 2007, tragedy struck the family of Dallas Johnson Greenhouses, Council Bluffs, Iowa, when at approximately 9:30 p.m. the company’s corporate airplane crashed four miles east of the Council Bluffs Airport. The crash took the lives of all four passengers including greenhouse owners Dallas and Kay Johnson’s daughter Shawn Sorenson-Peters; sales manager Dale Peckham; head grower April Meyers; and pilot Steve Revord.

Although the cause of the accident has yet to be determined, weather conditions likely played a role as winds were gusting to 50+ miles per hour with blowing snow. “On Saturday a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, Tony Molinaro, said it could take up to a year for investigators to verify why the airplane crashed,” the Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil reported.

In memoriam of Sorenson-Peters, wake services took place at the Cutler O’Neill Funeral Home, Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Feb. 21. A funeral service took place at the Queen of Apostles Church, Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Feb. 22.

A memorial service was planned at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Glenwood, Iowa, for Peckham on Feb. 20, and funeral services will be held in Peckham’s home state of South Dakota at a later date, according to the Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil.

Information on the other two victims was not available as of press time.

A memorial fund for Sorenson-Peters will be established at a later date.