Posted on 02/14/2009 6:37:16 AM PST by ETL
Clay Yarber was on Continental Connection Flight 3407, a decorated Marine who had twice survived helicopter crashes in Vietnam but was left with a fear of flying so deep he often preferred to drive, even cross country. But Thursday, Mr. Yarber, 62, had boarded a flight from California, connecting through Newark, to visit a friend in the Buffalo area.
(snip)
He had received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam.
“He was a really great father,” said Michele Keratsis, his last wife.
She said that around the time of the Tet offensive in 1968, Mr. Yarber was twice in helicopters that were shot down, but that in each instance he basically walked away from the crash.
“That is one of the bitter ironies of all this for us,” she said. “He was not happy to get on a plane at anytime.”
A stepson, Richard Curtis, said he was so inspired by Mr. Yarber he joined the Marine Corps, following in his footsteps. “He raised me after my father was killed by a drunk driver when I was 13,” Mr. Curtis said. “I called him Dad.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Rest in peace my fellow soldier, and my heartfelt sadness for your family and frends.
Big dittos to your words.
I was on a Goonie Bird that lost an engine in VN,scary.
A Slick that was losing power another time
Prayers for the victims and families in this horrible
tragedy.
Rest in peace, sir, and thank you for your service.
God bless this hero. Heartfelt thanks for his service to freedom.
Bittersweet story, RIP.
Michele Keratsis, his last wife
What does that mean? lol. I wonder if it means late wife or did he marry many many times?
Michele Keratsis, his last wife
I saw that too. What do you expect from the morons at the hate filled NY Slimes.
Many thanks to you and Clay Yarber for your service. Heroes proved.
A sad story indeed.
From the story:
Mr. Yarber, the former Marine, died single but had five ex-wives,
I worked with a guy once who delighted in introducing his wife to people as “My first wife”. He would then add, and my last wife. He had the timing down perfect and it always took people who didn’t know him by surprise.
Well fine and dandy—it’s still inappropriate wording. Junk media wording.
From the same Tamba Bay Online article I just linked to...
Keratsis, 45, said she and her daughter Nicole, whom [Clay] Yarber adopted, tried without success to get confirmation from Continental that Yarber, 62, was a passenger. Keratsis said she and her husband divorced 3 1/2 years ago.
“They won’t confirm or deny any of the passengers on the plane,” Keratsis said. “We keep hearing they will not release the manifest until they notify next of kin, but no one in Clay’s family has been notified. My daughter, who is Clay’s daughter, is here. Nicole has been unable to get information. Her stepbrother Christopher, who lives with Clay in Los Angeles, has not been able to get information.”
That changed when Keratsis received a call from one of her father’s friends saying they were told Yarber was on board.
“We got confirmation at 7:15 a.m., not from Continental, but a friend of the family who is not a family member,” Keratsis said. “They were able to get conformation, even though we struggled for it all night.”
Nicole Yarber said she was “irate” that she had to wait so long to find out her father was dead.
The wait for news was excruciating for the family, Keratsis said.
“The waiting is so very heart-wrenching, I can’t describe it,” she said. “I want to comfort my daughter and stepson. Comfort them for something they don’t know happened. It looks like it has, but we don’t have confirmation. I know it will be a long time before they sort through wreckage, but hearing that he did board that plane, the kids can face what lies ahead. In the interim, it is a gut-wrenching wait.”
Continental officials said they do not have the passenger manifest and that Colgan officials do. Colgan officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Clay Yarber “was very generous, not only to his family, but to his friends,” Nicole Yarber said. “If someone needed something, he would make sure they had it above his own needs.”
She said her father was wounded while on a reconnaissance mission in Vietnam.
“He received two Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry,” she said.
Yarber will be missed, Keratsis said.
“He is 6-4, a big strapping man,” Keratsis said. “He was a hero to his seven children.”
Yarber, she said, was married six times to five different women.
“He was very forthcoming when I began to date him,” she said. “I already knew him for many years. I knew him socially, started seeing him at a club he was playing in. We fell in love and married.”
The Vietnam War was a constant nemesis for Yarber, Keratsis said.
“He wanted to be married, to have a family and to stay married, and I think that any of the girls that you were to talk to would tell you the same thing. Vietnam got in the way of that again and again and again.”
He played guitar in Tampa-area bands, including Power of Two and Taxi, she said.
Yarber could have played in Blue Oyster Cult, she said, but turned it down.
“He was an R&B man and didn’t care for their style of music,” she said.
He lived in the Bay area from 1978 until nearly a year ago, said another ex-wife, Shari Ingram.
“We met in the music industry,” said Ingram, who was married to Yarber from 1984 to 1989. “We worked together for years. He was an incredible guitar player and singer.”
Yarber moved to California last year to be with his son, Christopher Clay, who is also a musician, Ingram said.
“Chris is doing very poorly,” she said. “They were very close and had a lot in common.”
Nicole Yarber said she last spoke with her father a few weeks ago and last saw him about a year ago, when he showed up at her workplace, where she deals with tragedy on a daily basis.
“I work at Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office as an emergency operator,” she said.
Professionally, she deals with “other people going through other sorts of tragedy on a smaller or large scale, but it is quite different when you are watching the news and it is about your dad, and you realize the last time you saw him was the last time you are ever going to see him.”
I have memories of that generation...beautiful men—gorgeous guys...true patriots.
We will never forget. And -— bring those MIAs home!
That says it all. Clay Yarber was a Hero on every level.
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