On this day (July 26) in 2024, a plane carrying three members of Atlanta-based Southern gospel group the Nelons crashed near Recluse, Wyoming, killing all seven people on board. Vocalists Kelly Nelon Clark, 64; husband Jason Clark, 50; and Kelly’s eldest daughter Amber Nelon Kistler, 35, were sadly among the lives lost that day.
The group’s lone surviving member, Autumn Nelon Streetman—Amber’s younger sister—was not on board the flight.
The Crash
Other victims included Amber’s husband, Nathan Kistler; the group’s assistant, Melodi Hodges; pilot Larry Haynie, and his wife Melissa Haynie.
That day, they were bound for a Gaither Homecoming Specialty cruise to Alaska, where the Nelons planned to perform.
Taking off from Nebraska, the Pilatus PC-12 single-engine aircraft was headed for the Seattle-Tacoma Airport to begin the cruise when it went down north of Gilette near the Wyoming-Montana border at about 1 p.m.
According to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board, the loss of auto-pilot contributed to the tragedy.
During the flight’s final stretch, Haynie declared an emergency to the Salt Lake City Air Route Traffic Control Center. The controller asked him where he would like to land with no initial response. However, Haynie later said he was “trying to get control of the airplane.”
Investigators believe the plane went down shortly after.
Who Were the Nelons?
In 1977, Kelly’s father, Rex, started the Nelons as a spin-off of another family gospel singing group, The LeFevres.
The group scored their first number-one Christian chart hit, “Come Morning”, in 1980. Blending traditional gospel songs with more contemporary originals, the Nelons would pick up seven GMA Dove Awards during that decade.
Kelly assumed control of the group after her father’s retirement in the 1990s. In 2016, the Nelons gained entry into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
Two years earlier, Amber won Female Vocalist of the Year at the Absolutely Gospel Music Awards.
Amber and Autumn were Kelly’s daughters from her marriage to first husband Jerry Thompson. They divorced in 1998, and Kelly married Jason Clark three years later.
[RELATED: The Nelons Singer’s Heartbreaking Final Social Media Posts Before Tragic Plane Crash]
Five months after the crash, Autumn Nelon Streetman gave birth to her first son, Rhett, on December 1, 2024—her late mother’s birthday.
Featured image by Jason Kempin/Getty Images
The post Two Years Ago Today, We Tragically Lost Three Members of This Hall of Fame Gospel Group in a Wyoming Plane Crash appeared first on American Songwriter.
Author: Erinn Callahan
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