By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – Friday marks two years since the fatal plane crash which took the lives of seven men east of Bloomington.

A devastating loss for the families and community, the kind that also takes its toll on emergency responders. McLean County Coroner Kathy Davis said since then, her office has brought in its own chaplain to help provide comfort and guidance during times of loss.

“There’s been tragedy since I’ve been coroner that I’ve seen that will bring you to your knees,” Davis said. “The chaplain is for the families but it’s also for us.”

Davis said her office is the only coroner’s office in the state with it’s own chaplain.

“The police have a chaplain, the military has a chaplain, fire (departments), why doesn’t a coroner’s office that deals with the worst tragedies?,’ ” Davis asked. “Hospitals have chaplains, why not a coroner’s office?”

Davis added you never know how someone will react to losing a loved one.

“I think sometimes people get angry because of the shock of it, because of the the sadness of it, and there’s all those states of grief,” Davis said. “Sometimes they go through stages of grief slowly and sometimes they go through it rapidly. So there’s anger, denial sadness guilt.”

The chaplain is nondenominational and works as a public education officer for the Bloomington Fire Department. He declined to be interviewed for the story.

The seven men who died in the crash; Aaron Leetch, 37, of Normal; Torrey Ward, 36, of Normal; Scott Bittner, 42, of Towanda; Terry Stralow, 64, of Bloomington; Thomas Hileman, 51, of Bloomington; Andrew Butler, 40, of Normal; and Jason Jones, 45, of Bloomington, were members of the ISU community who were flying back from the college basketball national title game in Indianapolis.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation. The National Transportation Safety Board released preliminary findings on Thursday.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].