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LDS Sandy church remembers bishop, his two children, killed in Iron County plane crash

Posted at 10:13 PM, Feb 27, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-28 09:53:43-05

SANDY, Utah -- Sandy LDS church remembers Bishop Randy Wells, 41, and his two kids after a plane crash killed them in Iron County over the weekend.

“He was very intuitive and knew when people needed to talk, even before they did,” said Wendy Davis, a member of his LDS congregation, the Mount Jordan third ward in Sandy. “I consider him my friend first and my bishop second and I’ll miss him deeply as a friend."

He was a friend to so many in the ward, dozens packed up when they heard his plane was missing and drove to an area outside Panguitch to join the search.

“We are waiting for at least 20-30 members of our neighborhood of our ward to come down,” said Dian Iman from the base of operations for the search.

Around midday on Monday, devastating news. The plane had been found and there were no survivors. Bishop Wells and his two kids, eight-year-old Asher and three-year-old Sara had been killed.

“Gonna miss Asher coming to my house. He used to come to my house during the summer just to say hi,” said Lori Scow, a member of the congregation.

Monday afternoon, as volunteer searchers returned, many tried to focus on the lessons Bishop Wells taught and what they believe he would say if he could be there with them.

“Without a doubt, he would tell people he loves them,” said Davis.

A message they shared with each other.

"Just how much we love each other, support each other,” said Scow.

Bishop Wells left behind a wife, Kristin Wells. She is 20 weeks pregnant with the couple’s third child, a baby girl.

"Worried about Kristin and the baby and how she's going to do,” said Scow.

Late Monday afternoon, a GoFundMe account was set up to support Kristin. As of 9:30 PM Monday night, it had reached nearly $50,112

“To be knitted with one heart in prayer and hope and hold close to our beliefs, that will get us through. I think this has the ability to be a unifying factor for those that are grieving,” said Davis.