Honorees

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Year Honored
2000
Honoree
Laura Parada
Agency
Guardian Air
Agency City
Flagstaff
Agency State
AZ
Last Call
1/31/96
Cause of Death
Medical Aviation Accident
Biography
"She loved the mountains and the sky, serving people with a caring heart."<br /> <br /> Laura Parada, flight nurse, with Guardian Air lost her life on January 31, 1996, in a fiery plane crash on the northern side of the San Francisco Peaks, in Flagstaff, Arizona. The Guardian Air transport plane disappeared turning back to Pulliam Airport. The pilot had radioed the airport because of a problem with the plane's landing gear. Laura was one of three dispatched for a pediatric flight to Phoenix to retrieve a patient. Her teammates also perished in the accident.<br /> <br /> Laura was an explorer at heart, serving people always with a caring and compassionate heart. She often commented to her family and friends that in flight she felt that she could see the whole world below her. She loved her job, the community and the people she worked with. Those who knew her were enriched by her love, her smile, and her radiant spirit. She gave of herself to others unconditionally.<br /> <br /> Parada received her B.A. degree in psychology from Judson College, in Elgin Illinois. She received her R.N. degree from Elgin Community College, grading with "highest honors." She worked for Marshfield Clinic, in Marshfield, Wisconsin. She had worked as a flight nurse for Guardian Air since 1995.<br /> <br /> Laura Parada, 31, is survived by her two sons Benjamin and William, her mother and stepfather Noel and Jim Ford, her father and stepmother Roger and Darlene Schlies, her brother Bill Schlies, her sister Tina Hudson, a stepbrother Mike Lawler, two stepsisters Cynthia Lawler and Lucy Voitik, two nephews Mike Schlies and Lee Hudson, and a niece Kathryn Schlies.<br /> <br /> Honored 2000