Sara Wylie
North Islanders have coordinated a GoFundMe campaign for the family of Patrick Lehman, a local pilot who tragically died in a plane crash last year.
Lehman’s Cessna float plane was recovered in Strachan Bay this past November, along with two other passengers who also died in the accident. Lehman was only 35 and left behind a wife, Sam, who is pregnant with their child.
Lehman was “a very qualified pilot, a very good person,” Air Cab president Joel Eilertsen told the Times Colonist after his passing.
“Patrick loved what this world had to offer, he explored non-stop. We want nothing more than [his] baby to be able to enjoy the very parts of life her dad loved so much.”
Brian Texmo, a family friend and Port Hardy councillor
The fundraiser was organised by Brian Texmo, a family friend and Port Hardy councillor, who West Coast Now profiled last year. In a post on the GoFundMe page, he wrote, “Patrick loved what this world had to offer, he explored non-stop. We want nothing more than [his] baby to be able to enjoy the very parts of life her dad loved so much.”
The money raised will be used “to help alleviate the financial stress that parenthood can bring as well as put money aside for his baby as she gets older to travel, play sports, gain education, and learn new hobbies.”
Another GoFundMe recently raised significant funds for the partner and child of logger Colby Drinkwater who died in the same plane crash. Friends and supporters donated over $22,000, far exceeding its initial $12,000 goal.
