Tragic couple mourned
But concern lingers over orphaned twins
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The Gregory twins' bikes were left by the front door of the family's home in Flanders Wednesday morning.
"People are trying their best to remember their lives and not so much about the accident," said Joyce Podlas, a childhood friend of Donna Gregory, 37, who was killed along with her 43-year-old husband, Bob, last Tuesday. "But the question still comes up about the children."
The twins, who for now are living with their maternal grandmother in their Flanders home on Pleasure Drive, were told of the fatal accident a few days after the plane went down.
Mourners console one another before funeral services for Robert and Donna Gregory in Westhampton Beach on Monday.
"A lot of people turned out to pay their respects, and it was well appreciated," he said of the services at Follett & Werner Funeral Home, where a steady stream of mourners stretched from the front door almost to the street through much of the two-hour memorial.
Inside, an array of photos showed the couple in happier times: some were snapshots taken from a hospital room with their then-newborn twins, others showed Mr. Gregory before he fell ill with blood cancer.
The flight was provided by Angel Flight Northeast, a regional chapter of a larger not-for-profit group that supplies rides for people in need of medical treatment far from home.
The volunteer pilot, Joe Baker, 65, of Connecticut, was also killed when the small craft inexplicably nose-dived into a parking lot during its descent into Boston's Logan International Airport.
The crash is still being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board. A preliminary report should be ready by next week, officials said.
"Knowing that Bob was sick and then for something like this to happen was just unthinkable," said Ms. Podlas, 37, who graduated with Ms. Gregory, then Donna McGregor, from Riverhead High School in 1989.
Ms. Podlas said she had recently reconnected with her childhood friend, and that the two had talked about arranging play dates with their children.
She said she was glad to have gotten to speak with Ms. Gregory again before she died, but added: "It's bittersweet.
"We never got that chance to meet in the park, and do those things that we had planned on doing," she continued outside the funeral home, standing with another 1989 Riverhead graduate, Cindy Schneck, who knew Ms. Gregory since kindergarten.
"I would run into Donna periodically. Everything revolved around her kids," Ms. Schneck said. "She was just a great mom, just a great person."
Relatives said the couple first met while Ms. Gregory was working at a deli near Larry's Lighthouse Marina, Aquebogue, and were married in 1997.
"He was one of the best mechanics you'll ever find," said Larry Galasso, who hired Mr. Gregory as a marine mechanic at the marina 21 years ago. "And he turned out to be a nice family man, too.
"The pitiful part was going through five years of all that torture with the leukemia. He was a real trouper."
He said Mr. Gregory, who was born in Glen Cove and raised in New England, still worked on and off over the last few years, despite the cancer.
"He still contributed a lot," Mr. Galasso said. "He was still a guiding light for all of the mechanics."
A fundraiser will be held later this year to benefit Robert and Amanda Gregory. Memorial donations to benefit them may be directed to Gregory Children Trust Fund, P.O, Box 633, Aquebogue, NY 11931.
Anastasia Hassell contributed to the reporting of this story.
mwhite@newsreview.com
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