Remembering Scott Lathram

Hospital's helipad to be named after local hero

By Misti Strader
Tribune-Courier News Editor
mstrader@tribunecourier.com

BENTON – “He was the kind of friend everyone hopes to have one of in a lifetime.”

That’s the kind of sentiment that echoed throughout the community and eventually across the nation when veteran Kentucky State Police Officer, National Guardsman and helicopter pilot Scott Lathram was tragically killed in an airplane crash on Oct. 26, 2004.

Lathram had the ability to touch the lives of people in such a way that even four years after his passing, they speak of his enthusiasm and love for life as if he were still here sharing it with them today.

Now, his memory will live on forever in tribute as Lathram becomes the namesake for the new Marshall County Hospital helipad.

A loving husband and father of three, Lathram graduated from Marshall County High School in 1984 and was a 1988 graduate of Murray State University with a degree in Criminal Justice.

He joined the ranks of Kentucky State Police as a dispatcher in June 1987 and became a trooper in July 1989.

Lathram was the recipient of several awards including two Citations for Meritorious Service and the Citation for Bravery.

He spent the last year of his life working as a helicopter pilot for Hendrick Motorsport’s race car driver, Tony Stewart.

On October 26, Lathram set out with nine other passengers in Henrdick’s Beechcraft 200 Super King, enroute to the Subway 500 Nextel Cup Series race at Martinsville, Virginia where he was to present Stewart with a “Patriot Award” which honors employers for outstanding support for their guard and reserve employees.

As a reservist for the National Guard, Lathram was scheduled to leave the next day to rejoin an already deployed 8-229th Attack Helicopter Regiment in Iraq.

He never made that deployment.

His plane was reported missing around 3 p.m. and after an extensive search, the wreckage was found at Bull Mountain in Virginia sometime later that evening. No one on board survived.

His wife of 17 years Tracy Lathram, remembers that day.
“Scott used to call me a hundred times a day, but he didn’t call me that day,” she said as she fought welling tears in her eyes. “The kids and I had gotten up and gone to church, but we were excited to hear from him, so we rushed home, but he hadn’t called. I remember thinking that he was probably just so excited about giving Tony the award that we would hear from him later.”

But that call never came in.

Later that afternoon, the doorbell rang at the Lathram home. “I knew what had happened when I opened the door and saw those three men standing there. I knew there was no other reason for them to all be together, but I had to hear it, I had to hear them say that Scott was gone.”

The three men were Marshall County Coroner Mitchell Lee, former McCracken County Coroner Danny Simms and family friend, Greg Hultman.

As if she were going back in her mind to that very moment, she said in a dazed tone, “They told me I needed to sit down and as I backed myself into my rocking chair, all I could think was that I had to keep it together—I couldn’t lose it. My daughter was in the house. Honestly,” she said, “I don’t even remember the rest of that week.”

Heartfelt notes of condolence spread across the internet like wildfire. People from all over the country wrote messages filled with sympathy and compassion for the Lathram family, many of which are still in existence today. People told stories of how chance encounters with Scott impacted their lives in such a way that he will forever be endeared in their hearts. They told of how his humor touched their lives and his vibrancy taught them to live every moment to the fullest.

It was estimated that between two and three thousand people attended his funeral.

But one glimpse into Lathram’s life, and you quickly realize that his legacy is about so much more than the way he died, it is about the way he lived.

To this day, when you ask one of his friends to describe the kind of person he was, a smile emanates from within. It is with genuine affection that the stories start to roll out, providing a snapshot into time of the moments spent with a man often described as “larger than life.”

Long time friend and Marshall County Chief Deputy, David Maddox remembers him in such a way. “The first time I ever met Scott, he knocked me unconscious with the boom on a sailboat. We were best friends from that day on.”

Maddox and Lathram grew to think of one another more like brothers than friends, and in the end, that is the way that Maddox still thinks of him to this day. “I remember watching the race on television. They announced that his plane had crashed and that there were no survivors. I thought it was impossible, that nothing could ever happen to him.”

Maddox said he remembered calling Lathram’s cell phone every five minutes for the rest of the night, but he never answered.

“It was probably a year before I could take his phone number out of my phone. I kept thinking someday, it would ring and it would be him on the other end of the line.”

Maddox said that the camaraderie which existed between Lathram and other officers was much the same. “The night of Scott’s funeral service, we all met at the funeral home. Most of us stayed there all night long—we just couldn’t stand the thought of leaving him there alone.”

Another childhood friend of Lathram’s was Marshall County Deputy and former KSP officer, Ray Chumbler.

Thinking back on the many years spent with his best friend, Chumbler was at a loss for words. “I met Scott in August of 1971. I was five years old, and we were in kindergarten. We were best friends from then on,” said Chumbler. “God didn’t give David, Scott or myself brothers for a reason. He knew we were meant to be brothers to one another.”

The last time Chumbler saw his friend was at Lathram’s father’s funeral.

It was there the two would have a conversation that haunts Chumbler even today. “He told me he had this thought that he would go down in a helicopter crash in Iraq. He told me that he didn’t see himself coming out of it alive. I remember being shocked and telling him not to think that way. He asked that I promise him one thing that day, and that was to take care of his mother if he didn’t come back from Iraq. I promised him that I would, but I never thought I would have to make good on that promise.”

When asked what Chumbler misses most about his friend, his answer was simply stated. “I miss everything.”

In speaking of the impact her brother had on the lives of people around him, Lathram’s sister, Ginger Boatwright, said the enthusiasm so often spoke of was there from the day he was born.

“I was 15 when my mother had Scott, so there was a big age difference. But I remember thinking, ‘I don’t know what it is about this little boy, but there is definitely something special about Scott.’” Boatwright said she vividly remembered the days when her father would come home from the auto dealership where he worked, driving his wrecker over the hill. “He would hit the blue lights and Scott would be outside waiting for him, jumping up and down. He always loved those flashing blue lights. It’s no wonder he became an officer,” she said with a look of pride.

Through the tragedy, though, Boatwright said she has been able to find hidden blessings. “Scott used to walk into my work everyday, telling me some sort of a story. I don’t know how in the world someone can have a new story every day and get so excited about it, but he did. Scott taught me to live for every moment and that you can’t fear anything, for you never know what you should fear.”

Boatwright said she had worried for some time that her brother’s life would be in jeopardy once he deployed to Iraq. “But that is not what took him away from us in the end. I have learned that I have to live for today and never take a moment for granted.”

She said a line from a song by Randy Travis best summarizes the legacy she feels her brother has left behind, “I guess it’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you, it’s what you leave behind you when you go.”

And that is how Scott Lathram will be forever remembered in the hearts of those that knew him best, not by the way he left, but for all the love and laughter he left behind.

Of Lathram being the namesake for the new hospital helipad, Hospital CEO Kathy Long said, “On behalf of Marshall County Hospital, I thank the Lathram family for their generous donation made in memory of their loved one, Scott. He was a valued member of our community who loved to fly and much of his life centered on helping others. The helipad in his memory is such a fitting tribute.”