Extracted from The Catahoula News Booster (Jonesville, LA)
June 1972

Area Men Victims of Plane Crash

A native of Vick, three Jena men and a son-in-law of Catahoula residents were among 11 killed Monday when a helicopter crashed into a swamp near Dulac in Terrebonne Parish.

Stephens J. Forman, 23, of Lake Charles was the son-in-law of Mr. and Mrs. Leamon Wiley of Larto. His widow is the former Juanita Wiley of Larto.

The Jena residents were Jesse Gerald Smith, 38; Jimmy Dale Coleman, 23; and Jerry W. Clarkson, 34. From Vick was Paul Ray Cole, 20.

The victims, all employees of Penrod Drilling Co., died when the helicopter transporting them to an off-shore well crashed into a marsh some 60 miles southwest of New Orleans. They were headed for Rig 56 in the Ship Shoal area of the Gulf of Mexico.

Remains of the Jena men were flown into the Jonesville airport from Houma early Tuesday morning and were received by Hixson Bros. Funeral Home and Kinner and Stevens Funeral Home, of Jena.

Funeral services for four of the men were held Wednesday.

Details of the funeral arrangements for Forman were not available at press time.

Cole is survived by his wife, Mrs. Essie Mae Normand Cole of Vick; one son, Robert John Cole, and a daughter, Sherry Elaine Cole, both of Vick; one brother, Charles Cole of Vick; two sisters, Janie Cole of Vick and Judy Gordon, of Key West, Fla.; his mother, Mrs. Ruth Gordon of Vick; his paternal grandmother, Mrs. Jane Cole of Centerpoint; and his maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. C. P. Thompson of Vick.

Smith is survived by his wife, Mrs. Louise Smith of Jena; one daughter, Carrie Denis Smith of Jena; one son, Larry Wayne Smith of Jena; one sister Mrs. Peggy Collins of New Orleans; one brother, I. M. Smith Jr. of Jena; and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. I. M. Smith Sr. of Jena.

Survivors of Coleman include his widow, Mrs. Margie A. Coleman of Nebo Route, Jena; one daughter, Kelly Jean Coleman of Jena; three brothers, Gus Coleman of Jena, Terry Coleman and Joe Paul Coleman both of Whitehall; two sisters, Miss Donna Jean Coleman of Whitehall and Mrs. Zelda Roberts of Dickenson, Tex.; and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Coleman of Jena.

Clarkson is survived by his wife, Mrs. Peggy Ann Tarver Clarkson of Nebo Route, Jena; one daughter, Evelyn Marie Clarkson of Jena; a son Milton Warren Clarkson of Texas; a stepson, Rickey Childers of Jena; one sister, Mrs. Azalia Hudnall of Jena; and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Clarkson of Jena.