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The Floyd Press, Floyd, Virginia, Thursday, 5 May 1949
Plane Crash Near Bent Mt. Fatal to Mrs. Rufus M. DeHart.
Mrs. Rachel Bas DeHart, wife of Dr. Rufus M. DeHart, formerly of Floyd, was fatally injured Thursday night when their private plane crashed in a forced landing in a pasture field on Bent Mountain, 20 miles east of Floyd, about 6:06 p.m.
Mrs. Dehart, 42, died within a few minutes after being removed unconscious from the crumpled plane. Dr. Dehart, in spite of painful injuries which included a broken left wrist, severe lacerations of the forehead and multiple bruises of the upper body, ministered to his dying wife and directed the witnesses who rushed to the scene in removing her from the plane.
Dr. DeHart, chief surgeon at the Radford Community Hospital and prominent throughout Southwest Virginia, was removed to Lewis-Gale Hospital for treatment.
At the hospital, the surgeon related that he and his wife were enroute home from Leesburg when their gasoline supply was exhausted over the Blue Ridge. He had planned to land at Blacksburg, but became lost and after getting back on his course realized the gas supply was low and headed for Woodrum Field in Roanoke.
Dr. DeHart was piloting the four-place Navion, a single engine, low-wing monoplane. After the plane was set down in the pasture field, it skidded across the field and barely missed plunging into a mall stream as it crashed into a barbed wire fence.
The crash occurred near the Andy?s Gap entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway on the farm owned by Mr. and Mrs. Harry L. Hodes, who also operated ?The Pantry?, a restaurant near the Parkway entrance.
Paul Dhoes, their son, was an eye witness to the crash. Rhodes told your editor that he saw the plane coming in at a low angle and obviously in trouble. One wing almost struck one of the small farm buildings used as a garage, then leveled off and dropped into the field.
The ship had dual controls, and both Dr. Dehart and his wife occupied seats at the controls, Rhodes continued. The control wheel on Mrs. DeHart?s side was smashed but her safety belt was hooked.
The surgeon?s belt appeared to have been broke. Mrs. DeHart was believed to have been thrown forward, suffering a puncture wound in the chest as the stick drove into her body and severe injuries about the chin and forehead.
John J. Goldsmith, president of the Radford Community Hospital and chairman of its board, said Dr. DeHart had been on leave of absence from the hospital since January because of ill health. Mrs. DeHart had also been ill recently, Goldsmith stated. The couple had returned only a few days before from a Florida vacation.
Services for Mrs. DeHart were conducted Sunday at the Radford Episcopal Church with interment in Sunrise Cemetery.
She is survived by her husband and three children: Rufus Jr., 14, Jean, 12 and Tommy, 2.
Also surviving are five brothers and four sisters. Mrs. DeHart was the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. R.A. Bass of Burkeville.
Dr. Dehart left the hospital Wednesday for this home in Radford.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1907 - 1949 (42 years)