After arriving home last night from visiting family in Atlanta, I was stunned when my husband called down from his office having read news headlines on the Internet:

"Did you know a Gary Tillman from Rome?" he asked from his upstairs office.

"Oh my Heavens, YES!  He was a crazy guy I went to high school with - oh my gosh, he was always so much fun!"

Silence.

"Why?" I finally asked.

He reported that he and his daughter were missing as a result of a plane crash.  I flew up to his office to read the article from the AJC myself.  I couldn't believe it.  How could someone so full of life now be missing with the worst outcome being prepared for.  Remembering how fun and vivacious he was, I was not surprised to learn that he had become a pilot.

So many memories came flooding back from those years in high school and I could see him smiling in the hallways as he passed through.  He was always smiling and always such a great guy to everyone.  I was a high school freshman when he was a senior and yet he never saw "class" or age differences among the student body, he saw everyone as friends.  He was always willing to help and was never "too cool" for anything.  He ran track as a long distance runner for the high school and you would see him all over Rome at any time of day running; he would always smile and wave.

A couple of years later while still in high school and after I began driving, I was driving my mother's car going somewhere and was waiting alone at a stop light.  Suddenly, the passenger side door of  the car opened and a person jumped in the seat and just sat there.  I about jumped out of my skin, scared to death and looked up to see this huge and infamous grin on Gary Tillman's face as he sat in the passenger seat next to me.  I shouted, "Gary!  What in the world are you doing scaring me to death like that?!"  He replied, "That's exactly my point.  What if that hadn't been me?  Now lock your car doors from now on, young lady," mockingly shaking his finger at me like a big brother.  And just like that, he opened the car door, locked it, closed it, smiled and waved and kept on jogging down the street.  I never forgot it and have always locked my car doors ever since.  I remember the very intersection where that took place.

Please join me in prayer for Gary Tillman and his 16 year old daughter who are still missing.  Please pray for the search and rescue teams.  Please pray for the families who have been impacted by this tragic accident.

More information:

The Rome News Tribune:  http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/680/public/news683191.html

Plane Crash Timeline from Rome News Tribune: http://www1.romenews-tribune.com/www_images/VilanoBeachCrash.gif

Additional from the AJC:  http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/1205/19planecrash.html

Jacksonville, FL's First Coast News:  http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/georgia/news-article.aspx?storyid=49052

Darlington School:  http://www.darlingtonschool.org/news/viewstory.asp?storyID=13815

Harriette Keen Jacobs