[JYO] Family Remembers Sterling Pilot

    Family Remembers  Sterling Pilot  By Erick  Soricelli   
(mailto:%20ericks@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) 
Observer Staff  Writer  Early last week, the third-year student at the 
University of Virginia  talked briefly with his father, who was getting dressed 
for 
work on the  night shift.  That was the last time Michael Schaefer saw his 
father. "I didn't get  to say goodbye to him," he said. "I didn't see him go 
out 
the door."  Michael Schaefer is the oldest son of Joseph Eugene Schaefer III, 
56,  a Sterling pilot killed shortly after 11 p.m. Jan. 10 when a medical  
Eurocopter EC-135 helicopter crashed into the Potomac River south of the  
Woodrow 
Wilson Bridge between Virginia and Maryland.  Joseph Schaefer's body was 
recovered Jan. 12 about 40 yards from the  crash site, Maryland state police 
said. 
 Paramedic Nicole Kielar, 29, of Richmond, was also killed in the  crash, and 
nurse Jonathan Godfrey, 36, of Chesapeake Beach, Md., suffered  several 
injuries, Maryland state police said. No other passengers were on  board.  The 
three had dropped a patient off at Washington Hospital Center in  Washington, 
D.C. 
and were on their way to Stafford Regional Airport in  Stafford, Va., where 
the helicopter was based, Michael Schaefer  said.  The helicopter had been in 
service for one month and was operated by  LifeNet, a subsidiary of 
Colorado-based airborne healthcare company Air  Methods Corp. The crash was the 
second in 
five days for the company  nationwide, and the LifeNet base in Stafford 
County was reportedly closed  Jan. 11.  Joseph Schaefer worked 30 years with 
AT&T 
in network operations,  computer programming, and as an instructor. After 
retiring from AT&T  in 1997, he worked as a computer consulant and pilot.  He 
had 
recently picked up work with LifeEvac, an air medical transport  program 
affiliated with Virginia Commonwealth University, Michael Schaefer  said. "He 
was 
all about aviation," Michael Schaefer said. "Even if he  wasn't flying, he was 
constantly preoccupied with flying."  Michael Schaefer said his father, who 
served as a chief warrant  officer in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 1972, read 
history books,  particularly about military history.  With more than 4,000 
flight 
hours of flying experience, Joseph  Schaefer flew combat and air rescue 
missions during two tours of duty in  Vietnam and as a corporate helicopter 
pilot. He 
received several medals  during combat, including the Distinguished Flying 
Cross, Bronze Star and  Purple Heart.  In spite of the medals he received, his 
sister, Denise Button,  described him as someone who did not always talk about 
his  accomplishments. "He never walked around and said, 'Guess what I have,'"  
Button said.  Born Jan. 14, 1948 in Alexandria to Birdie and Joseph Schaefer 
II,  said Button, who is retired after 22 years in the U.S. Navy.  The family 
moved to Jacksonville Beach, Fla., where he graduated from  Bishop Kenny 
Catholic High School, He also studied chemistry at the  University of South 
Florida 
in Tampa.  "He was my big brother; always protecting me, always teasing me,"  
Button said. "He was my hero even as a kid; he was a kid who took care of  
his little sister."  Growing up, Button said, she loved to go sailing with him. 
"That kind  of helped me decide to go into the Navy," she said.  "He always 
thought of others first," Button said. "Safety was the  utmost concern. He 
didn't start the car up until everybody was buckled  in."  "He did do a lot 
with 
us," Michael Schaefer said. "He wanted to take  us out on drives; he was an 
exploratory guy."  Michael Schaefer remembers long drives with his father and 
two 
younger  brothers; James and Andrew, out to western Loudoun County, Deep Creek 
Lake  in western Maryland, and the mountains.  "He just embedded an 
exploratory nature in us," Michael Schaefer said.  "All of us sort of itch to 
go 
places," he said.  The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the 
National  Transportation Safety Board.  About three months ago, while Michael 
Schaefer was at the University  of Virginia in Charlottesville, Joseph Schaefer 
was 
flying a patient to  the University of Virginia Hospital.  He asked his son to 
meet him at the landing pad. "I strapped on my  shoes, and ran and ran and ran 
across town," Michael Schaefer said. "When  I got there, the helicopter 
wasn't there."  Michael waited about 15 minutes, and then, "I heard this hum; 
'Boom!  Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!,'" he said. "The lights came up, and he came 
right  
down."  Joseph Schaefer invited his son onto the helicopter to look around.  
"He was just elated to show me his work," he said.  The two hugged, Joseph 
Schaefer got back into the helicopter, and  Michael closed the gate to the pad, 
staying around to watch him take  off.  "I watched the helicopter taillights 
fire off into the night, like  stars," he said. "That sounds kind of cheesy, 
but 
that's the way it  was."  In his spare time, Joseph Schaefer also served as 
an emergency medical  technician with the Sterling Volunteer Rescue Squad.   
Joseph Schaefer is survived by his wife of 25 years, Mary Cecilia, and  three 
sons; Michael Joseph, James Patrick, and Andrew Kevin Schaefer, all  of 
Sterling. He is also survived by his sister, Denise Button, of Canon  City, 
Colo., and 
uncle to numerous nieces and nephews. He is preceded in  death by his 
parents, his sister, Mary, and brother, Kevin, who served in  the U.S. Army.  A 
private interment will full military honors will be held Friday,  Feb. 4, at 
Arlington National Cemetery.  Memorials may be made to the Sterling Volunteer 
Rescue 
Squad at 46700  Middlefield Dr., Sterling, VA  20165.

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