DALLAS (ABP) — A top-level administrator at a Texas Baptist college has died in a plane crash, according to government and school officials.
Wayland Baptist University Executive Vice President Bill Hardage died March 25 when a plane he was piloting crashed in the mountains of California's San Benito County. Hardage, 61, had departed from the Watsonville, Calif., airport to fly to his home in Plainview, Texas, shortly before the crash occurred, the Federal Aviation Administration reported.
Hardage had traveled to California to pick up the plane, which he had just purchased.
According to Associated Press reports, the Civil Air Patrol received a beacon from the plane the evening of March 25, and authorities began searching the rugged terrain of the foothills soon after receiving the call. They recovered the wreckage of Hardage's M-10 Cadet the next morning, roughly 50 miles from the airport. Authorities had not yet determined a cause for the accident as of the afternoon of March 27.
Hardage had a nearly 40-year history of employment at the Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated school, whose main campus is in Plainvew.
“Words cannot begin to express Wayland's grief and my sadness over the loss of our gifted executive vice president,” Wayland President Paul Armes said in a statement. “Bill loved Wayland and contributed to her success as an institution of higher learning in more ways than any of us will ever know. He will be missed greatly by every member of the Wayland family. I will miss my very good friend and fellow pilot.”
As an experienced pilot, Hardage often employed his skills in his work for the university by flying officials to external campus events or business meetings.
Hardage is survived by his wife, Nell, two grown children and several grandchildren. Memorial services had not yet been arranged by press time for this story.
-30-