Eivind Gardner BYE

1929 - 1968  (39 years)

• Name	Eivind Gardner BYE
  Birth	30 Jun 1929	Otter Tail County, Minnesota
  Gender	Male
  Baptism	13 Oct 1929	Fergus Falls, Otter Tail County, Minnesota
  	Our Savior or Bethlehem
  Minnesota Birth Certificate	1929-19405
  Death	21 Dec 1968	St. Louis, Missouri
  Burial	24 Dec 1968	Masonic Cemetery, Piedmont, Wayne County, Missouri
  Notes	He went into the National Honor Society in his junior year at Washington High School in Fergus Falls which meant he was in the upper 5% of his class. He attended Concoria College starting in the fall of 1947. He began an internship at McCormick Osteopathic Hospital and Clinic in or near Moberly, Missouri, in June of 1953. His obituary in the 23 December 1968 edition of the Fergus Falls Daily Journal: Dr. Eivind Bye, 38, son of the late Eivind Bye and Mrs. Pearl Bye, now Mrs. Charles Lambert of Mesa, Arizona, was killed in the crash of his own plane near St. Louis, Missouri, Saturday. He was accompanied by his partner who is also an attorney. He, too, died in the crash which occurred in heavy fog. Mr. Bye was born in Fergus Falls, was baptized and confirmed in the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, and was graduated from the Fergus Falls High School in 1947. He took his pre-medical studies at Concordia College, Moorhead; he received his doctorate in osteopathy at Cooksville, Missouri, College of Osteopathy. He practiced osteopathy as physician and surgeon at Piedmont, Missouri. He is survived by his wife, Patricia, and four daughters - Lisa, Laura, Linda, and Mary-Elizabeth, his mother, and one sister, Mrs. Donald (Diane) Machande, Edina. Mrs. Lambert arrived Sunday from Mesa and will attend services at Piedmont, Missouri. It had been planned to bring the remains here for burial in the family lot but because of the severe weather conditions it was decided to have the chapel services this evening and services and interment Tuesday in Piedmont, Missouri. A newspaper article included with his entry in Find A Grave: PIEDMONT, MO. (UPI) - Funeral services will be conducted today for Roy W. McGhee and Dr. E. G. Bye, both members of the Piedmont City Council, who were killed late Saturday when McGhee’s light plane smashed into the top of Clark’s Mountain in heavy fog. The bodies were found near the peak of the 1,500 foot mountain. The plane had partially burned. McGhee, 42, was also Piedmont’s city attorney. He was the son of Circuit Judge Roy W. McGhee Sr., and the father of seven daughters. He had been a law school classmate of Governor Warren E. Hearnes at the University and was an honorary Missouri colonel. Bye, 39, operated an osteopathy clinic. He was the father of four daughters. A blog entry from 2009 that talks about Clark’s Mountain: “Ask anybody in town about Clark’s Mountain, and they’ll either tell you to watch out for snakes when you climb it, or they’ll tell you about the plane crash that happened in 1968. That year, right before Christmas, the only doctor and lawyer in town punched their Beechcraft Bonanza into the south slope on their way back from a shopping trip to Cape Giradeau. Ironically, one of the new lawyers in town recently built himself a two story lodge on the side of the mountain that overlooks the golf course, a stick throw away from the plane crash.” Newspaper reports described rain and poor visibility as well as a strong (40-50 knots) southwest winds at the time of the crash. Pilot McGhee, returning from Cape Girardeau to the east, may have been swinging north as he approached Piedmont, preparing then to make a left turn into the wind to land at the Piedmont airport. That airport’s sole runway is aligned SSW to NNE. Unfortunately, the wind had blown them off course and Clark’s Mountain got in the way. Newspaper reports also say that the crash occurred in the evening. McGhee was attempting an instrument approach using the signal from the Piedmont airport radio. Unfortunately, the radio station at the airport routinely went off the air at 4:45 p.m. It would seem, then, that McGhee and Bye lingered too long in Cape Girardeau, leaving at 4:15 p.m., ensuring a nearly-dark landing at about 5 p.m. The strong winds were also a big problem. Another pilot attempted to warn McGhee and Bye of the difficult wind by searching for them at various stores in Cape Girardeau. He never caught up with them. Both McGhee and Bye were instrument-rated pilots, experienced enough to have known that an instrument landing would be required and that the radio signal to do this would disappear very close to their expected ETA. For a number of reasons, this was a flight that should never have left Cape Girardeau and, most certainly, a landing that should never have been attempted. Pilot hubris was undoubtedly a factor in this tragedy that left 13 daughters without a father.
  Person ID	I4918	Don Carlson's Tree
  Last Modified	23 Feb 2025

  
  

  Father	Eivind George BYE,   b. 13 Oct 1897, Fergus Falls, Otter Tail County, Minnesota d. 1 Aug 1950, Rochester, Olmsted County, Minnesota (Age 52 years)
  Mother	Pearl Elizabeth GARDNER,   b. 10 Oct 1899, Union County, South Dakota d. 17 Oct 1994, Mesa, Maricopa County, Arizona (Age 95 years)
  Marriage	14 Jul 1921
  Family ID	F919	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Jennie Lee WOLFF,   b. 15 Nov 1930, East St. Louis, St. Clair County, Illinois d. 29 Nov 2002, Los Angeles County, California (Age 72 years)
  Marriage	2 Jul 1951	Otter Tail County, Minnesota
  	also married 2 Aug 1951 in Kirksville, Adair County, Missouri, by Edmund J. Cummins, a Catholic priest of Mary Immaculate Church
  Divorce	Abt 1961
  Children	1. Beth Anne BYE,   b. 19 Mar 1954, Mokane, Callaway County, Missouri d. Feb 1974, Mexico (Age 19 years)   2. Sherri Diane BYE,   b. 25 Aug 1956, Missouri d. 15 Apr 1992, Fresno County, California (Age 35 years)
  Family ID	F3789	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	1 Feb 2025

  
  

  Family 2	Patricia J WOOD,   b. 16 May 1935, Missouri d. 20 Dec 2007, Harris County, Texas (Age 72 years)
  Marriage	Abt 1961
  Family ID	F13797	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	1 Feb 2025