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- Friday, September 15, 1951
Air Crash Kills Williams Man
Williams, Sept. 14 (AP) - A routine flight in a new one-plane Mooney monoplane ended in tragedy Friday for Stewart S. Bassett, 28, William Jewele. He was killed instantly when the plane went out of control 16 miles north of Ash Fork and crashed into a cedar covered hillside. The watch on his arm had stopped at 9:09. Thomas E. Way, Williams Justice of the Peace and Coroner, said Bassett had flown to a sandstone quarry in that area on a business matter concerning sale of a house trailer he owned there. He said Bassett dropped a note to the man he wanted to contact and began circling about 100 yards above the ground. Suddenly the craft nosed into a dive. Way said a coroner's jury taken to the scene returned a verdict of accidental death. Bassett was the operator of Bassetts Jewelry. He was part owner of the plane. It was purchased about three weeks ago. He leaves a wife and small son.
Airplane Crash Results in Death of Young Businessman
Services Held Tuesday for Stewart S. Bassett
A shocked hush fell on Williams Friday when news of Stewart Bassett's fatal plane crash was reported.... The hush deepened through Tuesday afternoon when business houses up and down the length of Bill Williams Avenue closed their establishments during the services. Last rites were held at 2 o'clock at the Methodist Church, followed by a military graveside service in charge of Sergeant-at-arms Herbert Sherman, Cordova Post 13, American Legion. H.E. Walker of the Williams Funeral Home directed arrangements in general.
Seldom has a young man, Stewart would have been 28 this October, made so many warm friends in a few half dozen years since he came to make his home at Williams. Well rounded, with gifts of charm, light heartedness and generosity plus, a touch of genius, he gave of his time unsparingly to promote community projects. The Methodist church filled to overflowing while an organ prelude was played by Miss Fern Rigg. The Reverend Milton Winkler recited the 23rd Psalm, a favorite of Stewart's mother, and following a prayer, gave readings from the Old and New Testaments. The beautiful "Lord's Prayer" was then sung by Miss Kathryn Sutherland, accompanied by Miss Rigg. After words of commendation on Stewart Bassett's life, the Benediction was spoken and the American Legion took over with John Williams, first vice commander of Williams Cordova Post 13, James King, adjutant, and Herbert Sherman, sergeant-at-arms. Bassett was accorded one of the most impressive military rites Williams has ever seen. Between 75 to 100 Legionnaires from here and elsewhere, most in uniform, marched to do him honor. Led by the color guard, the pall bearers followed. They were: Larry Ely, Roy Pelletier, Vance Miller, Pete Shields, Ivan Smith and Jack Whitted.
Slowly the cortege marched westward on Sherman to Fifth thence to the cemetery. Here prayers were read by Chaplain W.E. DeVaney, of the local Post, followed by a Benediction by Chaplain Hollingsworth of Flagstaff's Mark A. Moore Post. The firing squad then, fired a salute after which Henry Rigg sounded taps on his bugle, with Lloyd Webb playing the echo. An American flag was presented to Stewart's widow, Mrs. Colleen Bassett, by Chaplain DeVaney, after which the beautiful floral wreath - yellow stars against a background of blue chrysanthemums - gift of American Legion's Cordova Post 13, was placed at the foot of the grave. Besides the great body of local Legionnaires present, thirty or more from the Mark A. Moore Post, Flagstaff, were represented, including Commander Ole Solberg and Past State Commander Ray Rochnow; District Commander C.R. Waters of Kingman; and State Adjutant Clayton Orth of Phoenix. Many outstandiing floral offerings of sprays and wreaths from friends, relatives and organizations were seen both at the church and at the graveside. These included a blanket of roses from Stewart's father, S.S. Bassett, Sr.; a huge wreath of orange mums from Mr. Bassett's firm, the Inland Press of Chicago; a large wreath of white chrysanthemums from Mr. Tuthill's firm, the Spring Works of Momence, Illinois; the wreath of the American Legion, etc.
The accident occurred early Friday morning about 16 miles northwest of Ash Fork. Stewart's new plane crashed against a tree. He had been circling, trying to rise after throwing a note to a man about a trailer.
A member here of the Lions club and the Odd Fellows, an aviation machinist's mate in World War II, Stewart S. Bassett was Commander of the local American Legion, Cordova Post 13. His jewelry store on Bill Wlliams will be carried on by his widow. Affairs of the Lazy SB ranch will be wound up by Logan Tuthill, Momence, Illinois.
Besides his wife and their young son, Charles, 2-1/2, Stewart is survived by his father, Stewart Bassett, Sr., of Oak Park, Illinois; his mother, Mrs. Logan Tuthill, Momence, Illinois; and his grandmother, Mrs. Rollo S. Bassett who is a sister of Mrs. H.L. Benham, Sr.
Williams News
Front Page
September, 1951
An airplane crash 16 miles north of Ash Fork last Friday morning, resulted in the death of Stewart S. Bassett, 28, proprietor of Bassett's Jewelry Shop, 215 West Bill Williams Avenue. Bassett was flying a one-passenger plane, a Mooney, which he and Larry Ely had purchased a short time before. He was thought to have been trying to deliver a message to Went Murphy who operates a quarry north of Ash Fork, as he had circled the quarry and was flying low at the time of the accident. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy observed him and stated that in banking sharply for another turn, the plane seemed to go out of control and crashed into the forest of big junipers which surrounded the quarry.
The plane was completely demolished, and was strewn over a strip of the woods some two hundred feet in length. Murphy was not far away, and hurried to the wrecked plane, fearing that at any moment fire might break out. He found Bassett's body pinned beneath the gas tank, with gasoline pouring out breaks in the tank, but the gas had not ignited. He felt the victim's pulse and found there was none at all. A hasty glance at the body showed the head crushed, and it was plain that death had been instantaneous.
Murphy then returned to the trailer and used his pickup in order to reach a telephone in Ash Fork and report the tragedy to Williams. Upon receiving word of the crash, Justice of the Peace and Ex-officio Coroner Thomas E. Way immediately impaneled a jury and drove to the scene. Coroner and jury examined the wreckage and removed the body to an ambulance. They found that Bassett's watch had stopped at 9:09 thus giving the exact time of the tragedy. The jury's verdict reads, "accidental death as a result of an airplane accident". The Coroner's jury was composed of Jack Dent, foreman, Claude Nichols, Paul Ambert, Howard Walker, Larry Ely and M.E. Coffee.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1922 - 1951 (28 years)