Anna Tangen Allen Speaks of Losing Son in Airplane Crash in 1973

Today I was looking through another file folder of letters and came across a Christmas card and letter to my parents from my mother's aunt, Anna Tangen Allen, from December of 1973.  Anna was four years older than her brother Ole Tangen my mother's father.  It was a surprise to me while reading her well-wishes for the Season to hear her first hand account of the death of her son Norman on July 23, 1973. The first section was written on the inside of the card; the second was from an additional note enclosure. Added are links to news articles covering the event.

Dear All,

            Hope 1974 will bring us all good health and happiness.  My best wishes to you and your family for Christmas and the New Year. Thanks for the nice picture you sent last year as I don’t think I have wrote you about it.  I like to hear from you at Christmas time as its like reading a whole paper for the year.  Thanks a lot. I think of you folks often.  I wish you lived closer by us.

*     *    *    *    *     *     *     *     * 

Enclosure ~~

Dear Bernadine, Robert & All,

            Thanks for the card and letter and all the addresses you sent me.  I should have called you folks when Norman was killed in that Plane Crash but it was such a shock to all of us that I couldn’t think of anything so it seems I couldn’t get at writing until just lately.  I sent LaVonne a letter and a clipping out of the paper after Norman’s funeral.  He had a military funeral.  It was so nice.  He had always told Viola, that’s his wife, that’s what he wanted when he died.  He was coming home to celebrate my 88 birthday.  He had planned on that so much as his sister from Utah was here so we all were going to have such a nice visit as we all were going to be here and Artis had spoken for the shelter at the park. So we was going to have supper there.  But he didn’t get here.  Clayton, Maxine, Mildred and some other ones went to the Air Port to meet him as we hadn’t heard anything about the crash.  They told them to go home as the plane was going to be 2 hours late but in the meantime Viola had called here and said she heard  that the plane has crashed but that’s all she knew at that time, so it sure was a shock to all of us.

            Will write you again soon.  I’m sending you a picture of myself.  It was taken awhile ago. (no picture with this card now).

 

Here is the inside of the card with Aunt Anna's writing and below a photo of her as a child from the family photo.