The Facebook pictures say it all.
In front of the camera, Greg Byrd, his sons Christopher, 27, and Phillip Byrd, 26,and Jackie Kulzer beamed, whether at the beach, on fishing trips in the Bahamas or in the stands cheering on their Ole Miss Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss.
Kulzer, an accountant and a 2006 graduate of St. Pius X High School, and Christopher, an Atlanta realtor and property manager, planned to marry in October.
Friday was supposed to begin a weekend of celebration at the University of Mississippi where Greg Byrd’s youngest son, Robert, 22, is graduating. At DeKalb-Peachtree Airport where Greg Byrd, 53, refueled his Piper Lance for the 90-minute trip southwest, the air was clear in Atlanta in a spring notorious for its pollen count.
Aviation officials say the plane, which took off around 10 a.m Friday headed for Oxford, Miss., crashed on I-285, killing the Byrds and Kulzer and bringing traffic in both directions to a standstill and bringing sudden tragedy to family and friends who knew the four.
“They were a very close family,” Paul Krieger, head master of the Christ School, an Asheville, N.C. private school, said of Greg Byrd and his sons, who called the mountain community home. “Their mother and their dad were divorced, but they all still stuck together.”
In a statement, St. Pius said, “Jackie is remembered as a wonderful young lady, a very popular, energetic, out-going individual that was always concerned about others. While at St. Pius she was a four-year member of the competition cheerleading squad, and many other campus organizations.”
Their deaths rocked both Atlanta and Asheville as loved ones and authorities tried to piece together what happened. Even those who didn’t know them found pause in their passing.
Doug Alexander, whose plane mistakenly was initially thought to have crashed, said his wife had a brief conversation in passing with the party, noticing their Mississippi hats and greeting them with a “hotty toddy,” part of an Ole Miss cheer.
“It was ironic that both of us were taking off to the same small place this morning,” said Alexander, who runs a consultancy, Transformational Development Counsel and also was on his way to Oxford. “We took off in perfect conditions, which was the strange thing.”
Greg, who had countless hours of flying time and had received his commercial pilot’s license, is believed to have been at the controls.
A platoon of investigators descended on the scene Friday, including the National Transportation Safety Board.
The Byrds are a prominent family in Asheville, Krieger said, owning restaurants and real estate. They are leaders in the Episcopal Church. Three generations of the family have attended Christ School, including Robert, who graduated in 2011.
The three men will be buried next week at the school, Krieger said.
Greg Byrd’s mother, Peggy, and his sister, Leslie, had just arrived in Scotland for a visit when they were notified, Krieger said. With the rest of the family away, Greg Byrd’s father, Grady Byrd, has been handling the arrangements.
“He’s holding up as best he can,” Krieger said. “I guess he’s been too busy to feel the impact yet.”
Elsewhere there was evidence that others were doing the best they could to hold it together.
At Tan Universe, one of three tanning salons Greg operated, a woman who answered the phone but declined to give her name said she spoke for all his employees. “He was an amazing man and an amazing employer. We are all standing here grieving.”
Greg Byrd’s former in-laws, the Swicegoods, own a well-known barbecue restaurant, the Little Pigs. His former wife, Hope Swicegood Byrd, lives in the same neighborhood as he does. She was expected to travel separately to their son Robert’s graduation from Ole Miss.
In Atlanta, Kulzer, 27, was known for her “always-on-the-go” attitude and strong work ethic. She raised money for different causes through walk/runs such as Light The Night for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.
“Everyone at BDO USA (where Kulzer worked as an accountant) is extremely saddened at the loss of our dear colleague, Jackie Kulzer, in this morning’s tragic plane crash in Atlanta,” the company said in a statement. “Jackie was a valued member of the BDO family and she will be greatly missed by all. We extend our deepest sympathies to Jackie’s family and will keep them in our thoughts and prayers as they go through this difficult time.”
The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department said Greg Byrd worked 16 years at the Asheville-area law enforcement agency, starting as a sheriff’s deputy in 1989 and retiring as a detective in 2006. He continued as a reserve deputy after his retirement.
“Greg was a very professional, dedicated public servant that continued to serve his community in a reserve deputy role after his full-time employment with the sheriff’s office. This is a tremendous loss for his family, this sheriff’s office and the community,” said Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan.
Staff writers Russell Grantham, Victoria Hicks and Arielle Kass contributed to this story.
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