Local Author Of Book Covering Mysteries Of Plane That Crashed On Walden's Ridge Holds Book Signing May 18

  • Friday, April 11, 2025
"The Flight of the Dove – A Story Wanting to Be Told" is set to be released on Sunday, May 18 at a book signing at the Sale Creek Independent Presbyterian Church from 3-6 p.m. Local writer and retired educator Curtis N. Coulter from Sale Creek authored the book.

The book chronicles the crash of a De Havilland Dove aircraft with six people aboard on Friday, July 23, 1954. The plane crashed on Walden’s Ridge near Brayton and the Sale Creek Mountain community. It was en route from Benton Harbor, Mi., to Tampa, Fl.
It had just passed through a thunderstorm.

The crash garnered national attention because of one of the passengers, Howard E. Anthony, the founder and owner of Heath Company, makers of the popular electronic do-it-yourself Heathkits.

Biographical information on all six people on the plane is included in the account.

Other subjects covered included: (1) the plane itself (with photographs); (2) family members accounts of the their activities on the morning of the crash as well as notification from authorities of the deaths of their loved ones; (3) eyewitness accounts of the crash as well as after-crash accounts by the first visitors to the scene; (4) aftermath including investigations and lawsuits; (5) the challenges faced by the families after the crash, both financial and emotional; (6) the mystery of a seventh wallet found in the wreckage; (7) the mystery as to why people continued coming to the crash site for two months after the disaster; and (8) the efforts by two families’ members to find the impact site and gain closure in their search for information about the cause of the crash.

Much of the book is told in the words of the children of the victims, including the daughter of the pilot, the two sons of the copilot, the son and daughter of one passenger, and the niece and distant relative of Anthony. One couple on the plane had no siblings or children.

Vicki Wyrick Appleyard, daughter of pilot Gordon Wyrick, and Bob and Terry Durham, sons of copilot Lawrence Durham, will be special guests at the book signing.

Books will go on sale at the book signing and will be available in selected local businesses beginning Monday, May 19. You can reserve a copy by pre-ordering it today at the author’s coulterpublications.com website.

"This is a must-read for people interested in the regional history of our area," officials said.
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