Close-knit town asks to mourn in private
The day after Thursday's media invasion, all was quiet in Leland.
So quiet, in fact, there were only a few cars parked on the two main streets that make up the hub of this small LaSalle County town.
So quiet even the police and fire departments seemed locked up tighter than drums.
(Submitted photo)
The day before, the streets had been peppered with strangers from the city and 'burbs -- reporters armed with notebooks and recorders, photographers lugging cameras and spiffy TV folks traveling in brightly painted high-tech vans.
The press had descended upon this town of 900 because a helicopter crash just before midnight Wednesday had claimed the lives of all four passengers, including one of Leland's tiniest and most frail residents.
It's not surprising they didn't get a whole lot of information about the struggles of little Kirstin Blockinger. This is farm country and folks who live in these quiet, rural communities instinctively know how to wrap protective arms around its wounded or grieving.
But when the helicopter carrying the crew desperately trying to keep this 14-month-old baby alive went down in a marshy field off Eola Road in Aurora, Kirstin's life and death became part of a national story that has left controversy and debate in its wake.
And the family doesn't need that right now, I was told over and over again Friday. They need solitude. They need support. They need to be able to mourn without an entire world watching.
"In emergency situations in these small towns, (medical helicopters) are lifesavers," said Dave Waszak, a respiratory therapist who has often worked with critically ill children, including those at Valley West Community Hospital in Sandwich, where the chopper team had picked up Kirstin the night she died.
"Until you've walked in the footsteps of someone who needs those services ... shame on anybody who criticizes Air Angels," he said.
Like Waszak, everyone seemed to know the child in some way.
He and his wife are members of Suydam Methodist, the same small country church a couple miles outside Leland where the Blockingers worship.
The owner of the Leland Diner met the baby when the family came in for dinner.
Tori Smith, a junior at Aurora University, was a best friend of Kirstin's aunt.
"I cried all day," she said. "I keep expecting to wake up from this."
Waszak and others described the Blockinger family as "very special."
"You can see in their eyes the love they have for this baby," he said. "And right now they just need time to be able to mourn."
dcrosby@scn1.com
COMPLETE COVERAGE OF AIR ANGELS CRASH
Photos: Kirstin laid to rest
Photos: Workers fix radio tower
Photos: Copter crash probe begins
Photos: Family's mourning begins
Photos: The victims
Photos: Crash scene
Twitter: Latest developments
Map: Crash site
Tears, rain fall as tiny crash victim buried
Flight nurse a hero: 'Gave his life for little baby'
Hero's selfless final act offers some solace'
Monday stories
NTSB gets surveillance video Leland girl killed in crash laid to rest
Sunday stories
Close-knit town asks to mourn in private
Work finishes on damaged radio tower
Saturday stories
Tower work complete, residents may return
In wind, rain, workers chop up radio tower
Radio tower well-known to local pilots
Friday stories
Radio tower dismantled after helicopter crash
Family of tiniest victim mourns flight crew
Helicopter crash probe could take months
Residents evacuating apartments near tower
Witnesses describe the fiery crash
Air Angels: 'We look at what's best for the patient'
FAA under pressure to improve safety for EMS flights
Crash turns focus on air transport safety
Helicopter crew remembered as heroes
Shock settles on emergency response crews
Thursday stories
Aurora helicopter crash kills Air Angels crew, child
Friends speak of Air Angels crew's dedication
Witness: Debris rained down from the sky
NTSB investigating cause of crash
Police ask residents near crash to evacuate
Last Air Angels crash in Fox Valley 5 years ago
