40th Anniversary Memorial for Kelleys Island Rescue Mission

On Wednesday, 30 August 2023, at 11am, there will be a 40th Anniversary Memorial at Mother of Sorrows Catholic Church.  The ceremony honors four brave men who perished in December 1983 on a mission to Kelleys Island.

According to a Port Clinton News Herald news article, “Four men willingly volunteered to board a small plane, despite dangerously dense fog, on a mission to help a colleague suffering from a heart condition” on Kelleys Island, 9 December 1983.  Pilot Sgt. Robert Rigoni, Bruce Mettler, Duane Dress, and Michael Sweeney perished after “the Cessna 207 disappeared in a cloud or haze after taking off.”

Blessing of  a new flagpole in the carillon yard, followed by lunch in the Cornerstone annex, is also planned.