Auburn woman helping create crash site monument to 1972 jet disaster victims

By Erin Gallup-Main, Journal Staff WriterAuburn resident Cindy Eaton said she would never forget the 1972 Farrell?s crash that wiped out almost her entire family.She is working with fellow survivors of what was called the worst air-ground aviation disaster in U.S. history to create a memorial at the crash site. A fund-raiser is being planned to help build the memorial. Eaton?s permanently scarred feet are still sensitive, but the pain is nothing, she said, compared to the pain of losing nine family members and five family friends.Although she was only 12 years old at the time, she said she remembers everything.?I kept telling a woman, ?You have to find my mother,?? said the daughter of a Sacramento city fireman as she re-told the story this week. ?You?ll know her when you see her because she is the most beautiful woman in there.?Eaton said the Auburn family gathered at Farrell?s Ice Cream Parlor in Sacramento on Sept. 24, 1972 after watching Eaton?s nephew?s football game. ?We were sitting on the wall that the plane went in,? Eaton said Sunday. ?How I survived is by the grace of God.?Eaton said it was later discovered that the pilot of the war jet had concerns before attempting to take off from the Sacramento Executive Airport for an air show that Sunday afternoon. But he decided to take off from runway 12-30 anyway, she said. The jet struck two cars before crashing into the popular family parlor at 4:25 p.m.?It was a party place,? Eaton said. ?They had an ice cream trough, lights and music. The waiters wore these big hats and black and white striped shirts.?She said her family was waiting for their ice cream to come and was enjoying each other?s company when there was a crash, smoke and the music fizzled out to complete silence.?I can?t explain the silence,? she said. ?It was so black I couldn?t even see my hand. I remember wandering around and I didn?t realize that I had been hit on the head. When I woke up, the bottom of my pants were on fire.?She said her father had drilled her on what to do in an emergency so often that she automatically knew to crawl, but there was too much debris. As she attempted to walk, she felt an intense pain on her feet. A bystander bumped into her and carried her out of the building.?He wasn?t a fireman,? she said. ?I?d love to be able to thank him.?She said fire engines, police officers and spectators crowded Freeport Boulevard.?I remember everyone screaming, ?she?s burned, she?s burned,?? said Eaton, who after skin graphs, still has scars on both feet and her right ankle. In the disaster Eaton lost her parents, Gene and Margaret LaVine; her sister Sue Martin; her brother-in-law Tony Martin; and several nieces and nephews. Her sister Chris Nash and nephew Steven Martin were the only ones in the party of 14 who survived.She said her older sister?s best friend, her husband, their two children and one of their friends, Nancy Rodriguez, were also among the 22 killed in what is commonly called ?the Farrell?s crash.?She said after almost two months, she was able to walk out of the hospital. After her 23-year-old sister recovered from a skull fracture and a lacerated liver, she cared for Eaton and her nephew, then 9. She said he has grown to adapt to only having three complete fingers on his left hand after the crash, but the emotional scars take longer to heal.?You heal with time, but it never really goes away,? she said. ?I was angry when I heard the Sacramento City Council approved a police and fire headquarter station on the crash site. I heard about 400 people would work there and the runway is still being used.?She said she commends fellow survivor Kerri McCluskey for fighting the building and gathering the rest of the survivors to create a $45,000 memorial on a portion of the land the city granted them for a remembrance.?This has been Kerri?s crusade,? Eaton said. ?She?s doing this in memory of her twin sister, who died in the crash. It?s been an honor to get to know her.?She said plans for the 20 by 20-foot parcel include two park benches, a fountain, a plaque with the names of those killed and a rose bush in memory of each family.?It?s a lot more costly than anticipated because of permits,? she said. A fund-raiser is planned from 5 to 9 p.m. on Thursday at Chevy?s at 2100 Grass Valley Highway in Auburn. A manager related to Rodriguez is facilitating the event in which Chevy?s will donate 15 percent of its receipts for the evening to the memorial project. Contributions may also be made to: Gifts to Share/Memorial, Gifts to Share, Inc., 1231 I Street, Suite 400, Sacramento, CA 95814. McCluskey said the Firefighter?s Pacific Burn Institute has pledged $5,000 and the city of Sacramento has promised $20,000 to the cause. So far, she said the public has donated $8,000. McCluskey said any extra money raised would go to the Burn Institute.The Auburn Journal?s Erin Gallup-Main can be reached at ering@goldcountrymedia.com.