The victims of Flight 261

The victims of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 included a firefighter who loved risk, a writing instructor on vacation, the host of a radio show who liked champagne and Alaska's most prominent Native leader. A thumbnail look at their lives:

Complete passenger & crew list

ROBERT OST Bob Ost shown in an undated photo. (AP)

Robert Ost considered risk part of the job and part of life. A 15-year veteran of the South San Francisco Fire Department, he was also an avid paraglider and mountain climber.

"To me, what he always did was risk, but he was always safe in doing it," said John Lucia, an assistant fire chief who gathered with co-workers at the Ost home Tuesday.

Ost, his wife, Ileana, their daughter, Emily, and his mother, whose name was not released, were returning to San Francisco aboard Flight 261, which crashed off the California Coast Monday.

Flags at fire departments throughout San Mateo County flew at half-staff.

"He was just an all-around good guy," Lucia said. "Loved what he was doing. Loved his family."

Fellow firefighters at the station were in shock, Lucia said. "It's pretty somber. I don't think it's sunk in yet."

THE GANDESBERYS An undated family photo shows, from left, Robert, Tom, Jean and Peter Gandesbery. (AP)

After a student died two months ago, University of San Francisco teacher Jean Gandesbery turned sadly to a colleague and said, "We never really do know how much time we have."

"It was really prophetic and really sad," said Lisa Morana, interim director of USF's Sacramento campus, where Mrs. Gandesbery taught writing as an adjunct instructor.

Mrs. Gandesbery and her husband, Robert Gandesbery, both of Davis, were returning from a vacation.

Mrs. Gandesbery just had her childhood memoirs published by Minerva Press in a novel "Seven Mile Lake." Her husband was retired.

"She really had a significant impact on all of her students. They did a lot of personal writing and they got to know each other very well," Morana said.

"They're really nice people. They're just such pleasant people," said Jerome Vigil, who was house-sitting for the couple and watching over their golden retrievers, Emma and Casey.

CYNTHIA OTI Cynthia Oti is shown in this undated photo. (AP)

Cynthia Oti was an investment broker who knew how to save and how to spend, how to work and how to play.

"She enjoyed life," said Greg Raab, public relations and marketing manager for KSFO, where Oti was the host of a nightly radio show on investing. "She told people to save and have a plan for the future, but not to deny oneself. She said it on the air and she lived it."

Colleagues said Oti's career as a broadcaster was just heating up. For four years, she did a three-hour Sunday show. But last spring, KSFO asked her to take on a prime-time, Monday-through-Friday slot. She indulged herself by buying a Jaguar.

She had treated herself to a weekend getaway in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where Flight 261 originated. She loved the music of Eric Clapton and collected expensive champagne.

Oti was supposed to go on the air two hours after the flight was scheduled to land in San Francisco; KSFO ran a rerun instead.

"It's terrible news for us," talk show host Gene Burns told listeners. "Many of us have lost a friend, a colleague and an absolutely, thoroughly delightful human being."

"She was always willing to lend her professional advice," Burns said. "If someone was having a financial difficulty, she did her level best to guide them through the shoals of that experience."

MORRIS THOMPSON Morris Thompson is show in this June 1998 file photo. (AP)

Morris Thompson was one of Alaska's most prominent Native and business leaders.

"A really big Alaskan tree fell today," Byron Mallott, who recently stepped down as executive director of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp., told the Anchorage Daily News.

Thompson, 61, his wife, Thelma, and daughter Sheryl had been in Mexico for a vacation.

Thompson retired last month as president and chief executive officer of Doyon Ltd., a Native corporation formed in 1971 as part of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The corporation has 12.5 million acres of land, making it the largest private landowner in the United States.

When Thompson took over Doyon in 1985, it had an operating loss of $28 million. When he retired, it was generating $70.9 million in annual revenues, had 900 employees and 14,000 stockholders.

Thompson was a special assistant to the Secretary of the Interior during the Nixon years. He was only 34 when he was appointed Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He also was a cabinet-level officer in Alaska Gov. Walter J. Hickel's first administration.

"He is a great Native leader, very personable, down to earth," said Sharon McConnell, a co-host of "Dialogue with Doyon" that aired on Alaska Public Radio until Thompson retired. "I think a lot of us are in shock about this."

BRADLEY LONG & WILLIAM KNUDSON William Knudson, left, and Bradley Long are shown in this undated photo. (AP)

Bradley Long, 39, and his partner William Knudson, 53 had been heading home after visiting the bed and breakfast inn they owned in Puerto Vallarta.

They "lived life to the fullest," said Laura Lyon, vice president at Lyon & Associates Real Estate in Sacramento, Cali., where Long had worked for the past decade.

The men owned a magnificent home on the Sacramento River, Lyon said.

"They were very much into boating and had a large hobby restoring old cars," Lyon said. "They were always entertaining, very, very generous, warmhearted gentlemen."

At Inland Business Systems in Sacramento, a business machines company Knudson helped found in 1977, chief financial officer Judy Mason said Knudson's "incredible insight" cannot be replaced.

"His shoes will never be filled," Mason said.

ELLEN SALYER Ellen Salyer is shown in this undated photo. (AP)

Ellen Masland Salyer had gone to Mexico for a property owners meeting.

"We had a storybook relationship," said her husband, Phil Salyer, of Sebastopol, Calif. "We've been together for 13 years and it's been the best 13 years of my life."

Mrs. Salyer, 51, was active in the community, volunteering for various organizations including the Boy Scouts, he said.

"She always gave. She gave so much. She'll be very missed," he said, choking back tears. "I don't even know where to go from here."

STEVE WILKIE

Steve Wilkie was the brand manager of the Levi Strauss' Silvertab clothing line.

Wilke, who worked in company headquarters in San Francisco, had worked for the company since 1992.

"This is a very sad day for Levi Strauss and Co. employees around the world. We have a lost a highly respected colleague and a dear friend," the company said in a statement.

Wilkie was responsible for the strategic marketing direction of the Silvertab brand, a fashionable clothing line geared toward young adults.

Earlier, Wilkie had served as the marketing director for Levi Strauss' Spain office. While working and living in Spain, Wilkie received the Koshman Award, the company's most prestigious award in recognition for his work on marketing in Europe.

RONALD & JOYCE LAKE

Just north of San Francisco in Corte Madera, Calif., the three adult sons of Ronald and Joyce Lake were grappling with the death of their parents.

"There are just special souls sometimes," said Cyd Gardner, an assistant manager at Frank Howard Allen Realtors, where Mrs. Lake worked. "We teased her a lot about how could she do as well as she did and take three or four vacations a year."

Gardner said Mrs. Lake was one of their top sellers, an avid community volunteer and a world traveler.

With her retired husband, Mrs. Lake visited Chile last year and Africa in 1998, said Gardner.

TED THOMPSON Ted Thompson is shown in this undated photo. (AP)

Family and friends of Alaska Airlines Capt. Ted Thompson, the pilot of Flight 261, gathered at his Redlands, Calif., home Tuesday to grieve and console.

The sign on the door read, "The family is in seclusion. Please respect our privacy and our grief."

At a news conference, Thompson's son Fred thanked well-wishers, offered his family's sympathy for fellow victims and asked for privacy.

Ted Thompson, 53, flew C-141 cargo planes for eight years for the Air Force before becoming a commercial jet pilot for Alaska Airlines in 1982. Thompson had 10,000 flying hours with Alaska Airlines, and was a flight safety instructor for the company.

CLEMETSON & PEARSON FAMILIES
Left photo: Carolyn and David Clemetson with three of their children: Blake, Miles, and Coriande from left. Right photo: Sarah and Rodney Pearson with their children, Grace, top, and Rachel. (AP)

Four adults and six children from two Seattle families had vacationed in Mexico. Four of the children were students at John Hay Elementary School.

Principal Joanne Testa-Cross said many of her other students are too young to comprehend what happened, but parents will need to mourn.

"We are a close family here, which means the impact will be great," she said. "But there is also a lot of support. That will get us through."

Dr. David and Carolyn Clemetson had three children -- Blake, Miles and Coriande -- in school. They also had an infant son, Spencer.

David Clemetson practiced at Three Tree Internal Medicine in Burien.

Rachel Pearson, 6, attended Hay Elementary with the Clemetson children. She, her parents, Rodney and Sarah Pearson, and their infant daughter, Grace, were all on the plane.

Lynn Steinberg, spokeswoman for the Seattle School District, said a crisis team was sent to the school.

Carolyn Clemetson was a stay-at-home mom who "knew the names of everyone on the block" less than two weeks after the family moved into their Queen Anne neighborhood home three years ago, said Effie Cain, who lives across the street.

Daughters Blake and Coriande "were lively little girls. I could hear those little patent-leather shoes going up the steps" to their house, Cain said.

Miles, she said, "was a nice little guy" who earned money doing special chores to buy a long-wanted scooter. He tooled around the neighborhood on it constantly.

TOM STOCKLEY

Tom Stockley, 63, went to work for The Seattle Times in 1967. In 1973, he became the paper's wine columnist. His wife, Peggy, 62, was an animal lover and community activist who worked for the Times, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Seattle Youth Symphony and other organizations. Most recently, she edited the Floating Homes Association newsletter.

They both graduated from the University of Washington School of Communications and were well known in their close-knit houseboat community.

"They were just the gentlest souls and always willing to help neighbors," said neighbor Jan Knutson.

"It's a very good reminder to us that when we cover tragedies, we're writing about people who are loved," said Times managing editor Alex MacLeod.

In 1998, Stockley was recognized at an international conference in Seattle for his decades of expanding public knowledge about wine and wine production.

"His impact was tremendous," said Simon Siegl, president of the American Vintners Association. "He was there at the beginning before anybody was aware of the Washington wine industry and a strong advocate from the start."

LINDA & JOSEPH KNIGHT Linda and Joe Knight are shown in this undated photo. (AP)

Linda and Joe Knight were co-pastors of the Rock Church Northwest in Monroe, Wash. They were in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico doing missionary work after 15 years of outreach on the streets of Seattle.

Members of their congregation gathered to pray and told reporters they were told not to talk.

The Knights said they gathered food, raised $3,700 to build showers and toilets and worked to buy a school building for teaching English and the Bible to children living in poverty, according to a July 1998 story in The Herald of Everett.

Much of the support came from corporations.

"As a team, we have been able to get companies like Alaska Airlines to donate food for the children," Linda Knight told the paper.

"This isn't one of those things where we do a missionary trip and then forget about it," she said. "This is going to be our lifelong work."

RACHEL JANOSIK Rachel Janosik is shown in this yearbook photo. (AP)

Rachel Janosik, a recent graduate of Enumclaw High School in Washington state, was excited about the travel opportunities at her new job with Horizon Air, a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines.

"She was really getting into traveling," said her brother, Matt, 18. "We just got her a set of luggage for Christmas."

Janosik, a food and beverage agent for the airlines, was able to travel free on certain Alaska flights. She recently traveled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and loved it so much that she invited two of her old Enumclaw classmates on another trip.

She and friends Meghann Hall and Ryan Sparks were on the flight.

"They were all terrific kids," said Principal Terry Parker. "This is a very sad day here."

ROBERT HOVEY

Robert Hovey carried an infectious smile and a zest for life from the slopes of Lake Tahoe to the beaches of Mexico, where he spent his last trip with his business and skiing partner.

"He always has a smile, just a funny story. It feels good to be around him -- a real charming fellow," said Steve Edmonds, who hired Hovey to work at Gelati Celesti, an ice cream manufacturer for hotels and restaurants.

Hovey, 50, worked at the company's Oakland office and lived on a sailboat in the east San Francisco Bay. He met Edmonds while working avalanche control at Lake Tahoe 25 years ago.

Edmonds was in Puerta Vallarta with Hovey but couldn't get on his flight and took a later plane home.

The pair had traveled to Thailand, parts of South America and virtually every ski area in the United States, Edmonds said.

The men planned a trip to Lake Tahoe in a few weeks.

"But I guess that won't come to be," Edmonds said. "Poor Bob, he wouldn't have been there if it weren't for me. I said, 'Let's go down to the beach, drink margaritas and get rowdy."'

COLLEEN WHORLEY & MONTE DONALDSON Colleen Whorley and Monte Donaldson are shown in this undated photo. (AP)

After a vacation with relatives, Monte Donaldson and Colleen Whorley decided to stay in Mexico -- until Monday.

Donaldson, 31, a free-lance landscaper and disc jockey, and Whorley, 34, an art director at Microsoft Corp., had just bought a Seattle home and planned to get married in September.

"They were real complementary," said friend Adam Suhl, 32. "I remember one time (Colleen) told me that as different as they were, that (Monte) was as close to being her as she had found.

"They were working hard, trying to make it," Suhl said. "They had a lot of hopes."

JAY LUQUE

Jay Luque, who worked for a San Francisco catering company, was going to celebrate his 42nd birthday this month.

His mother, Jovanna Luque of Olympia, Wash., had planned to start the party early when his plane landed in Seattle.

Instead, she headed for California to find out more about the crash. Luque was one of six children, his mother said, and the second child she had lost in the last 14 years.

ROBERT & LORNA THORGRIMSON

Robert and Lorna Thorgrimson lived in Poulsbo, Wash. He is the grandson of O.B. Thorgrimson, a founding partner of the prominent Seattle-based law firm Preston, Thorgrimson, Shidler, Gates & Lucas, where billionaire Bill Gates' father is a partner. The firm became Preston, Gates & Ellis in 1994.

"We express our sympathies to the Thorgrimson family and all of the families who lost loved ones on this flight," said B. Gerald Johnson, managing partner of the firm.

HARRY STASINOS & CHARLENE SIPE

Harry Stasinos and his wife, Charlene Sipe, worked together at the Roy Potter Insurance Agency in Seattle for many years.

"They were both very happy people," said the owner's son, Scott Potter. "One of my employees talked to them right before they went down to Puerto Vallarta. I know they had a great time there."

At the time of their deaths, the couple was believed to be starting their own insurance agency.

STANFORD POLL Stanford Poll is shown in this undated photo. (AP)

Stanford Poll had many business and property interests in the Seattle area, lived in a high-priced area on Mercer Island and once figured in a corruption scandal.

Poll's wife, Gabriel, was not traveling with him and was absorbing the shock of the news at home, said Shari Gross, who took calls for the family. Poll, 59, also had two college-age daughters.

"He was a wonderful person, who was the best friend anyone could ask for," Gross said.

In the 1970s, Poll, then described as the operator of two taverns, was subpoenaed as a material witness in a criminal investigation into payoffs to Seattle police officers. He was found guilty of filing false reports of federal withholding taxes and Social Security contributions.

The conviction was overturned in 1975, but Poll was convicted later that year on a new charge of willfully filing false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service.