Family grieves for life cut short in copter wreck

Younger was freshman at Frostburg State

Friday, Oct. 3, 2008

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A freshman at Frostburg State University, Ashley J. Younger, 17, was an accounting major who loved school and her ability to get along with almost everyone made her a beloved friend.

After a viewing at Accokeek’s Victory Chapel on Thursday evening, the family will travel to their home state of South Carolina for a funeral at Island Creek Baptist Church in Cowpens.

She will be buried Saturday, only eight days before what would have been her 18th birthday.

Ashley was killed Saturday in a helicopter crash that claimed the lives of three others.

Earlier in the evening on Sept. 27, Ashley was a passenger in her friend Jordan Wells’ car. When heading home from the carnival at St. Charles Towne Center, Wells, 18, lost control of her car on a rain-slicked Smallwood Drive.

A Maryland State Police chopper was dispatched to the scene to transport the teens to Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly.

For reasons that are currently under investigation, the helicopter crashed in Walker Mill Regional Park in District Heights.

In addition to Ashley, the pilot Stephen H. Bunker, 59, EMT Tonya Mallard, 38, and trooper Mickey Lippy, 34, died in the crash.

Wells, a College of Southern Maryland student, was critically injured in the wreck, receiving broken bones and internal injuries.

The crash, claiming the lives of three Charles County residents left a community stunned, the Younger family among them.

A young mother, Stephanie Younger and her daughter basically grew up together, Miles Younger said of his only child.

‘‘They were attached ... they had a tight bond,” he said.

Because of her mother’s Army career, Ashley entered the world in Germany and spent childhood years in Belgium, according to Ashley’s cousin, Ricky Jones Jr.

In the days following the tragedy, Stephanie Younger’s Waldorf home has been filled with flowers from friends, cards are propped up on the coffee table that hold photos of a grade-school Ashley, the teen at her high school graduation wearing Westlake High School’s white gown and aqua sash, another of the beauty heading to the prom.

Life has changed for the family without the integral part Ashley played.

‘‘We can’t undo what’s been done,” Miles Younger said. ‘‘When time is up you have to say ‘good bye’ ... but you always question the bad things.”

Miles Younger, who recently recovered from a motorcycle accident, still has questions about the night his granddaughter died. ‘‘It hurts,” he said, tears welling in his eyes. ‘‘She gonna be missed.”

Yet, he has been overwhelmed by the kindness and support shown to the family, realizing that Ashley touched many lives, maybe more than anyone will ever know.

‘‘It lifts your spirits up to see the type of girl [Stephanie] raised,” Miles Younger said. ‘‘If more people were like Ashley the world would be a better place.

‘‘I’m not saying this because she was mine,” he continued, ‘‘but she was one of a kind.”