‘Love and sunshine:’ People remember couple killed in plane crash

By Kimberly King

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — A local doctor and his wife have been identified as the victims in a plane that crashed Monday in eastern Tennessee.

On Tuesday, the Bradley County (Tennessee) medical examiner confirmed William Edward Gist was the pilot and his wife Beth Ann Gist was a passenger in the single-engine Cessna 182P that went down near Chattanooga about 5:15 p.m. Monday.

Mountain Flyers Flying Club, a not-for-profit organization based at Asheville Regional Airport, owns the plane. The organization’s president Bill Keith said the physician ran into bad weather.

Mountain Area Health Education Center OB-GYN Department Chair Dr. Beth Buys said Gist was the OB-GYN residency program director for MAHEC.

“This is a big shock,” Buys said. “Dr. Gist was one of the most well-loved people I have ever worked with. He was someone who was dedicated and compassionate, sharing every bit of themselves with our community.”

Gist, she said, had worked at MAHEC since 2019.

Keith said Gist, a well-trained pilot, was the first club member to die in a crash.

“We knew he loved to fly,” Buys said. “He was just so excited to be able to see his family (in Dallas), to use a skill he used and trained many hours for. He absolutely adored being in the air.”

Buys said the couple has grown children as well as two large dogs they adored.

“They were part of our community. They were very embedded in their church and sang with their choir.” Buys said. “He is from Chicago and grew up in Chicago.”

Buys said the couple loved living in the Asheville area.

“They brought love and sunshine everywhere they went,” Buys said.

Jacquelyn Hallum, who works at MAHEC, said Gist had a great sense of humor. Hallum said Gist was a huge contributor to the community, working to bring more diversity in the medical field as well as being a sincere and caring person.

“He was very much a people person,” Hallum said.

The FAA and NTSB are investigating the cause of the crash. Air flight recordings and communications with an air controller will be part of that investigation.

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