Valerie Holmes, 47, of Youngsville, passed away in Jamestown, New York, Sunday, November 1st, 2020, as a result of injuries sustained in a plane crash.
Valerie was born June 28th, 1973, in Warren, to Ronald and Barbara (Martin) Holmes of Youngsville, who survive her. She was a 1992 graduate of the Warren County Christian School and was a member of the Youngsville Free Methodist Church. Valerie was employed by Ramco working in Cable Management. She was previously employed at her parents’ business, the Youngsville Hardware store, where she enjoyed chatting with all of the customers. When she was younger, horses were her life. They have always been her “Go to Therapy”. Valerie loved to fly and was currently working on obtaining her pilot’s license. She also enjoyed woodworking and remodeling her house. Valerie will be greatly missed by her family, "extended family" and loved ones.
In addition to her parents, she is survived by her two son’s, Alexander McQueen of Warren and Nathanial McQueen of Elizabeth City, NC, and a brother, Michael Holmes of Youngsville.
She was preceded in death by her maternal grandparents, Harold and Jean Martin, her paternal grandparents, Burnell and Blanche Holmes, and her companion, Alan Fuller.
Friends and family will be received on Friday, November 6, from 12:00 - 2pm and 4 - 6pm at the Youngsville Free Methodist Church, in Youngsville, and also on Saturday from 11am to 12:00 noon at which time a funeral service will be held there with the Rev. Rick Hamrick and the Rev. Kathy Thompson, co-officiating. Burial will be in the Garland Methodist Cemetery at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial donations may be made to the Youngsville Free Methodist Church, 179 Davis St., Youngsville, PA 16371.
The Nelson Funeral Home and Cremation Services, in Youngsville, have been entrusted with all arrangements. Condolences to the family may be made at www.nelsonfuneralhome.net
JAMESTOWN, New York — Salvage crews were working on Wednesday to recover portions of an airplane that crashed in Chautauqua County on Sunday as federal authorities launched an investigation into the accident, which killed three residents of Warren County.
The crews are collecting parts from the Grumman American GA-7 Cougar airplane that will be taken to Tennessee and examined by investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board, Chautauqua County Sheriff James Quattrone said Wednesday morning. Quattrone said his office is assisting at the crash scene, including helping with traffic control.
The Grumman American GA-7 Cougar crashed in an area between Route 380 and Route 60 in the Town of Ellicott, Chautauqua County, late Sunday afternoon while flying from North Carolina to the Chautauqua County-Jamestown Airport, north of Jamestown, New York.
Quattrone's office reported early Monday that the plane lost contact with air control on Sunday at 5:47 p.m. Weather conditions at the Chautauqua County-Jamestown Airport at the time included light snow, fog and mist, according to information posted online by the National Weather Service.
Search teams scoured the area for the plane on Sunday night before suspending the search at 1 a.m. Monday. The search resumed at 8:30 a.m. Monday, and after about an hour of searching the wreckage was located, according to the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office.
The wreckage was found on a steep hillside that is heavily wooded, Quattrone said Wednesday. It was difficult to find even in nice weather, he said.
The three occupants of the plane were found dead at the scene. The Sheriff's Office identified the occupants on Monday as a male pilot, his sister and a family friend, and later in the day identified them as Alan Fuller, Valarie Holmes and Linda Edwards.
Quattrone said Wednesday that the three are residents of Warren County. Death notices posted on the Warren Times Observer website on Wednesday listed Valarie K. Holmes, 47, as a resident of Youngsville and Linda Edwards, 62, as a resident of Pittsfield. The Nelson Funeral Home & Cremation Services in Youngsville is handling funeral arrangements for the two, according to information in the Times Observer death notices.
No additional information was available on Fuller on Wednesday.
Quattrone said the plane was based out of Jamestown and was privately owned. Its registered owner is Cougar Air JV LLC, according to an online Federal Aviation Administration aircraft registry inquiry. The address listed for the owner, 3163 Airport Drive in Jamestown, is the address for the Chautauqua County-Jamestown Airport.
FAA officials were on scene following the plane crash, Quattrone said.
Information on a possible cause of Sunday's crash was unavailable Wednesday. An NTSB spokesman said in an email to the Erie Times-News on Wednesday that there are no specifics available on the investigation into the crash at this time.
An NTSB investigator did not travel to the scene of the accident but is working closely with the FAA and plans to examine the plane in the next few days at a storage facility, the spokesman wrote in the email.
The investigation will include collecting radar data, witness accounts, weather reports, air traffic communications, the pilot's medical and flight history, and maintenance records of the aircraft, the spokesman wrote.
It can take 12 to 24 months before a probable cause is determined and a final report is issued. A preliminary report will likely be posted on the NTSB website within a few weeks, but it will not state a cause but will provide some of the factual information that is known at the time, according to the spokesman.
Three people died after a small plane crashed Sunday night just north of Jamestown, the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office said.
Authorities located the wreckage Monday morning in the Town of Ellicott, about a mile east of Jamestown Airport.
The Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office identified the three people who died in the crash as Alan Fuller, Valerie Holmes and Linda Edwards.
All three were from northern Pennsylvania, sheriff's officials told reporters at a morning news conference.
The small aircraft that had three people on board was flying from North Carolina when airport officials lost contact with the plane at approximately 5:47 p.m. Sunday, Sheriff James Quattrone said.
Authorities found the wreckage between Routes 380 and 60 in the Town of Ellicott, the Sheriff's Office said.
In densely wooded terrain between those two roadways, emergency workers were seen descending a hill and walking east, towards Route 380.
Quattrone said the privately owned plane was based in Jamestown. He said the three people on board were "the pilot, his sister and a family friend."
"We do believe the weather played a major role, there were some high winds," Quattrone said of the crash, saying that winds also hampered the Sunday night search.
Weather conditions around the time authorities lost contact with the plane indicate wind gusts in the low to mid-30s, according to National Weather Service data. At 5:56 p.m., winds were blowing at 22 mph and gusting to 35 mph. Conditions were described as "light snow, fog/mist and breezy," according to weather service data. Visibility was down to one mile.
The plane was flying to Jamestown from Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport in Burlington, North Carolina, and was about a mile from Jamestown Airport when authorities lost contact, according to information described as "preliminary" released by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The plane was believed to be a twin-engine Grumman American GA-7, an FAA spokeswoman said.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, the FAA spokeswoman said.
The plane took off from Burlington at 2:58 p.m. Sunday, on its way to Jamestown Airport. It had been scheduled to take off at 3 p.m. and to land at 5:14 p.m.
The plane had flown another flight earlier Sunday, from Manteo, North Carolina, to Burlington.
The plane was owned by Cougar Air JV LLC.
Quattrone said he has been told that the pilot co-owned the plane with another person, but that he had not confirmed that.
Quattrone said authorities have told him that there were no mayday or distress signals during the flight.
At a briefing held a couple hours before the plane was found, Quattrone said authorities did locate signals from the last locations of the pilot's cellphone and aircraft, and those areas were searched last night. He said he was hopeful that there would be air support Monday to check areas that were searched Sunday night, "just to confirm that there may not be any wreckage or debris there."
"We're hoping to have some air support, either drones or possibly the State Police helicopter, that will help us with that search," Quattrone said. "With the leaves off the trees we're hoping to be able to find something relatively soon."
The Sheriff's Office said it is working with the FAA and that the Department of Homeland Security was sending a representative to assist in the investigation.
Quattrone said a search that involved approximately 135 volunteers had to be suspended around 1 a.m. Sunday morning "due to weather and due to the rough terrain."
The Fluvanna Fire Department of Jamestown was among 13 volunteer fire departments involved in Sunday night's search, which also included five police agencies, Quattrone said.
"It was a difficult call to discontinue last night," Quattrone said, "but we did not want to risk the safety of any of our volunteers or any of the searchers who were out there."