Elizabeth (Ball) Rider (1919 - 1949)

Born 22 Feb 1919 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States

Wife of Edward Franklin Rider — married 31 Oct 1948 (to 22 Oct 1949) in Los Angeles, California, United States

Died 22 Oct 1949 at age 30 in Blood Mountain, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, United States

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Biography

Elizabeth was born in 1919. She passed away in 1949.

Newspapers

1949-Oct-26, “The Oakland Tribune”

Couple Found Dead in Plane

Edward F. Rider, 23, and his wife, Elizabeth, 21, of Fresno, were found dead in the wreckage of their plane on Bloody Mountain today by a rescue party which scaled the high Sierra peak in hope of saving them.

Six volunteers reached the scene of the crash late this morning and gave a prearranged signal, holding hands in a circle, to indicate that both had died in the crash.

The signal was observed from the air by Walter Johnson, commander of the 12th Group of the Civil Air Patrol at Fresno, and Bob Simon, an airport operator at Bishop.

Johnson and Simon landed at Bishop after receiving the signal.

Strong hope was held that both had survived the crash, which was seen from the air after a three-day search yesterday.

Floyd Bedwell, a Fresno Civil Air Patrol pilot, who sighted the crash first, and others who flew over the scene said the cockpits appeared to be empty and that they saw what they believed to be tracks in the snow around the plane.

The rescue party, including Bedwell and George Dibert, manager of Bishop Airport, left for the scene last night after the Air Rescue Service at Hamilton Field abandoned a plan to drop parachutes because of the rugged terrain. The wreckage was said to be about 11,500 feet up.

The ground party stayed at a cabin in McGee Pass last night and made the remaining four miles up this morning.

Ross said the party will bring the bodies down the mountain with them and would arrive sometime this afternoon.

The Riders had been missing since Saturday, when they took off in the silver and red low-wing monoplane from Fresno for Bishop to be with Rider’s mother, Mrs. Walter Lohse on her birthday. ^[1]

1949-Oct-27, “Long Beach Independent”

Crash Victims’ Bodies Recovered

BISHOP, Calif. — (INS). The bodies of a Fresno couple were recovered Wednesday from the wreckage of their private plane which disappeared into the rocky and snowbound fastness of the High Sierra last Saturday.

The victims were Edward F. Rider, 25, of Fresno, and his wife, Elizabeth.

Authorities said the tiny foot prints of a Cocker spaniel puppy which the couple took along with them on their fateful trip apparently made the tracks in the snow which had raised hopes for the couples survival.

Deputy Coroner Edward E. Blake of Bishop told International News Service that a ground party reached the wreckage Wednesday morning and signaled the grim news to a plane circling overhead. ^[2]

1949-Oct-28, “The Tampa Times”

Air Crash Kills Former Tampan

The bodies of Mrs. Elizabeth Ball Rider, formerly of Tampa, and her husband, Edward Rider, killed when their single-engine plane crashed in a mountainous section of California, have been found, according to Mrs. Rider’s brother, Mark Ball, Jr., Miami.

Mr. Ball said the cause of the accident was not known, and several days were required to find the open cockpit, two-place ship, piloted by Mr. Rider. It was en-route from Fresno, where the couple lived, to Bishop, Cal. Wreckage was found in a deep ravine.

Mrs. Rider, about 30, was the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Mark Paul, formerly of Tampa, now living in Lutz. She was a graduate of Plant High School and attended the University of Miami, where she was a member of Sigma Theta sorority.

For several years, Mrs. Rider was a laboratory technician at Municipal Hospital here and later became head technician at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, Hollywood, Cal.

Mr. Rider is survived by his father and several brothers and sisters.

Funeral Services will be held Monday, at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Pasadena, Cal. ^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ ”Oakland Tribune”, (Oakland, California), 1949-Oct-26, page 1, https://www.newspapers.com/image/245405881/
2. ↑ ”Long Beach Independent”, (Long Beach, California), 1949-Oct-27, page 14, https://www.newspapers.com/image/74114259/
3. ↑ ”The Tampa Times”, (Tampa, Florida), 1949-Oct-28, page 2, https://www.newspapers.com/image/327285717/

Marriage

"California, County Marriages, 1850-1952," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8KY-VSV : 8 December 2017), Edward Franklin Rider and Elizabeth Ball, 31 Oct 1948; citing Los Angeles, California, United States, county courthouses, California; FHL microfilm 2,116,865.

Death

Find A Grave: Memorial #85497453