Friends Remember Orange County Pilot as Giving, Loving

Family and friends tonight are remembering an Orange County man who died as a result of a plane crash.

51-year-old Rocky Herring was injured in the crash near Sedona, Arizona in November.

He had been in an Arizona hospital for the past six weeks and died unexpectedly yesterday after doctors removed a breathing tube.

Family and friends are honoring the memory of the Orange County pilot.

"Rocky was sitting behind me and I turned around and said, 'I know you.' And he said, 'I know you too.' That's how we reconnected," says Jeannine Denman.

Jeannine Denman has known Rocky Herring for the past 25 years. Although they lost touch for a while, they reconnected about ten years ago at Victory Bible Baptist Church in Vidor.

"You say Rocky, you said Christian man. He was what a Christian man was," says Denman.

She says Herring was always there to reach out to others, and his giving nature led him to start Wings of Promise, a non-profit, medical air-transport service about a year ago. He also flew several people out of Orange County during the hurricane Ike evacuations.

"That was his dream, of doing something for people. He didn't charge. That was just the way Rocky was," says Denman.

But she says the biggest surprise in their friendship came when Herring was involved in a plane crash near Sedona, Arizona in November.

Soon after, she learned of the Caring Bridge website where Herring's wife updated his condition everyday. But she wasn't the only one who logged on, hundreds of people commented to offer kind words to the family and to say how his story inspired them.

"Check it 2 to 3 times a day, make sure everything was going good. And everything was so great," says Denman.

Until Denman received a phone call from her daughter-in-law that Herring died Sunday afternoon.

"I said, 'what are you talking about?' She said, 'they think a blood clot broke loose.' And she said, 'they're not sure yet.'" says Denman.

Denman says she'll miss the man she remembers as a generous soul, who always found time to sing in church.

"Oh, Rocky could sing. I know he's singing. God got him a good one, we lost out," says Denman.

The funeral will be on Monday January 5th at 2 P.M. at the First Baptist Church in Vidor.

If you would like to offer your condolences to the Herring family, click here.