Marion Ruth Barnick

It took writing an entire book (Erebus, Sibling Rivalry Press, 2015) to distil what Kay Barnick’s life and death mean(t) to me: “I’m not even sure if I lost Kay in that crash or she lost me. What I’ve come to say is all that’s left is her absence, and it has been with me like furniture in the dark you’re bound one night to step into.” I don’t know any other way to say it. When we met, Kay worked in New York at the copy desk for Women’s Wear Daily, the preeminent, gossipy trade newspaper for the fashion business. I was a 24-year-old cub reporter — a cub everything, actually — and I looked forward to our deepening friendship. It was 1978 but Kay always appeared somehow golden and timeless and grown up at once. And she was kind. That made her stand out in the newsroom. I needed her friendship. It never occurred to me we had so little time. Ironically, tragically, fittingly, Kay’s mother Marion lived and breathed aviation. An accomplished pilot and flight instructor, she flew numerous races, crossed continents in small planes, advocated for women in aviation — indeed, was a virtual evangelist for general aviation. Her flight club, the Ninety Nines, called her “indefatigable”. Scores of images of Marion abound as she crops up frequently in the club’s newsletters. I am particularly fond of one from the November 1975 publication showing Marion with the flight “Stimulator” she built of plywood and paint to “stimulate” children’s interest in flying. A more formal portrait doesn’t represent her effervescence. Of Kay I have no photos other than a high school sophomore yearbook photo. It bears no likeness to the Kay I knew, the beautiful, upbeat Kay. For me, Kay remains animated in poetry, which is able to capture and spark what can live on in all of us. Source: Jane Summer (friend) via https://insights.nzherald.co.nz/apps/2019/erebus/

On the morning of 28 November 1979, Air New Zealand Flight TE901 left Mangere airport, Auckland, for an 11-hour return sightseeing flight to Antarctica. At 12.49 p.m. (NZST), the aircraft crashed into the lower slopes of Mt Erebus killing all 237 passengers and 20 crew on board. It was the worst civil disaster in New Zealand's history. Source: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/erebus-disaster