Vicki Van Meter, dead at 26
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sinsboldly
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Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Gender: Female
Posts: 13,488
Location: Bandon-by-the-Sea, Oregon
19 Mar 2008, 12:37 am
PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Vicki Van Meter, who made headlines in the 1990s for piloting a plane across the United States at age 11 and from the U.S. to Europe at age 12, died in an apparent suicide. She was 26.
Vicki Van Meter's mother said "she had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter died Saturday of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Crawford County coroner said. Her body was found in her Meadville, Pennsylvania, home on Sunday.
Her brother said she battled depression, but her family thought she had been dealing with her problems.
"She was unhappy, but it was hard for her to open up about that, and we all thought that she was coping," Daniel Van Meter said. He said she had opposed taking medication.
Van Meter was celebrated in 1993 and 1994 when she made her cross-country and trans-Atlantic flights accompanied by only a flight instructor. Her instructors said she was at the controls during the entirety of both trips.
"If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything," Van Meter said before her second trip. In her teens, she said she hoped to become an astronaut when she grew up.
Later she earned a degree in criminal justice from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania and spent two years with the Peace Corps in the former Soviet republic of Moldova. She recently worked as an investigator for an insurance company.
Her mother, Corinne Van Meter, said her daughter had begun applying to graduate schools and wanted to study psychology.
Van Meter was a sixth-grader in September 1993 when she flew from Augusta, Maine, to San Diego over five days. She had to fight strong headwinds and turbulence that bounced her single-engine Cessna 172 and made her sick.
At the time, she was believed to be the youngest girl to fly across the United States. That record was broken by a 9-year-old in 1994.
Also in 1994, Van Meter flew from Augusta to Glasgow, Scotland, and was credited with being the youngest girl to make a trans-Atlantic flight. She battled dizziness brought on by high altitude and declared upon landing: "I always thought it would be real hard, and it was."
The child pilot phenomenon ended in 1996, when 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff, her father and the instructor supervising the flight were killed in a crash in Wyoming while Jessica was trying to become the youngest person to fly across the country. Congress quickly passed a bill banning record-setting attempts by unlicensed pilots.
"I was really rooting for her, but I guess reality says accidents do happen," Van Meter, then 14, said at the time of the crash. "It's unfortunate it had to happen to someone so brave, someone trying to fulfill her dreams."
Corinne Van Meter said her daughter "led a full and interesting life. ... She had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter's funeral will be held in Meadville, but arrangements have not been finalized.
wsmac
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Joined: 31 Aug 2007
Age: 64
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,888
Location: Humboldt County California
19 Mar 2008, 12:45 am
That's sad.
I can remember those headlines when the kids were doing this stuff.
She did make some notable achievements in her life though.
I suppose working for the Peace Corps, she may have even done some good for folks that really needed it.
I wonder what type of work she did in Monrovia?
_________________
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===============
LIBRARIES... Hardware stores for the mind
05 Apr 2008, 10:56 pm
sinsboldly wrote:
PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Vicki Van Meter, who made headlines in the 1990s for piloting a plane across the United States at age 11 and from the U.S. to Europe at age 12, died in an apparent suicide. She was 26.
Vicki Van Meter's mother said "she had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter died Saturday of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Crawford County coroner said. Her body was found in her Meadville, Pennsylvania, home on Sunday.
Her brother said she battled depression, but her family thought she had been dealing with her problems.
"She was unhappy, but it was hard for her to open up about that, and we all thought that she was coping," Daniel Van Meter said. He said she had opposed taking medication.
Van Meter was celebrated in 1993 and 1994 when she made her cross-country and trans-Atlantic flights accompanied by only a flight instructor. Her instructors said she was at the controls during the entirety of both trips.
"If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything," Van Meter said before her second trip. In her teens, she said she hoped to become an astronaut when she grew up.
Later she earned a degree in criminal justice from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania and spent two years with the Peace Corps in the former Soviet republic of Moldova. She recently worked as an investigator for an insurance company.
Her mother, Corinne Van Meter, said her daughter had begun applying to graduate schools and wanted to study psychology.
Van Meter was a sixth-grader in September 1993 when she flew from Augusta, Maine, to San Diego over five days. She had to fight strong headwinds and turbulence that bounced her single-engine Cessna 172 and made her sick.
At the time, she was believed to be the youngest girl to fly across the United States. That record was broken by a 9-year-old in 1994.
Also in 1994, Van Meter flew from Augusta to Glasgow, Scotland, and was credited with being the youngest girl to make a trans-Atlantic flight. She battled dizziness brought on by high altitude and declared upon landing: "I always thought it would be real hard, and it was."
The child pilot phenomenon ended in 1996, when 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff, her father and the instructor supervising the flight were killed in a crash in Wyoming while Jessica was trying to become the youngest person to fly across the country. Congress quickly passed a bill banning record-setting attempts by unlicensed pilots.
"I was really rooting for her, but I guess reality says accidents do happen," Van Meter, then 14, said at the time of the crash. "It's unfortunate it had to happen to someone so brave, someone trying to fulfill her dreams."
Corinne Van Meter said her daughter "led a full and interesting life. ... She had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter's funeral will be held in Meadville, but arrangements have not been finalized.
Vicki Van Meter's mother said "she had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter died Saturday of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Crawford County coroner said. Her body was found in her Meadville, Pennsylvania, home on Sunday.
Her brother said she battled depression, but her family thought she had been dealing with her problems.
"She was unhappy, but it was hard for her to open up about that, and we all thought that she was coping," Daniel Van Meter said. He said she had opposed taking medication.
Van Meter was celebrated in 1993 and 1994 when she made her cross-country and trans-Atlantic flights accompanied by only a flight instructor. Her instructors said she was at the controls during the entirety of both trips.
"If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything," Van Meter said before her second trip. In her teens, she said she hoped to become an astronaut when she grew up.
Later she earned a degree in criminal justice from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania and spent two years with the Peace Corps in the former Soviet republic of Moldova. She recently worked as an investigator for an insurance company.
Her mother, Corinne Van Meter, said her daughter had begun applying to graduate schools and wanted to study psychology.
Van Meter was a sixth-grader in September 1993 when she flew from Augusta, Maine, to San Diego over five days. She had to fight strong headwinds and turbulence that bounced her single-engine Cessna 172 and made her sick.
At the time, she was believed to be the youngest girl to fly across the United States. That record was broken by a 9-year-old in 1994.
Also in 1994, Van Meter flew from Augusta to Glasgow, Scotland, and was credited with being the youngest girl to make a trans-Atlantic flight. She battled dizziness brought on by high altitude and declared upon landing: "I always thought it would be real hard, and it was."
The child pilot phenomenon ended in 1996, when 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff, her father and the instructor supervising the flight were killed in a crash in Wyoming while Jessica was trying to become the youngest person to fly across the country. Congress quickly passed a bill banning record-setting attempts by unlicensed pilots.
"I was really rooting for her, but I guess reality says accidents do happen," Van Meter, then 14, said at the time of the crash. "It's unfortunate it had to happen to someone so brave, someone trying to fulfill her dreams."
Corinne Van Meter said her daughter "led a full and interesting life. ... She had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter's funeral will be held in Meadville, but arrangements have not been finalized.
I struggling with raw incapacitating depression. I also contemplate suicide everyday. I don't tell many people because I then get a lecture about how I should feel, and how others would feel, etc etc etc. I have often said there is more help for people who are alcoholics, addicts etc. There is no help for clinical depression. Nothing works, not one of the drugs, not any of the radical treatments wither. Eventual death is the only thing that can make the pain go away. Corinne Van Meter, like me, probably learned she would have to give up her personality to get help. I have learned to just keep my mouth shut because no one understands this unless you are another seriously depressed person. We are extremely sensitive about unfairness & injustice, and have considerable strength to try to do something about it. It finally breaks you and you have nothing left. I have been homeless, slept in a tent in the woods for months, slept in my care at 50 below zer, gone without food for a week at a time. No one really cares. You are homeless because people really don't want to understand or hear what you really feel on your terms. So you quietly kill yourself one day. My day is coming soon. I'm in a lot of unrelenting physical (6-8) & emotional (8-10) pain. If I mention it to someone who is "supposed" to help me their suggestion is to have ECT. If the drugs don't work, they fry your brain so bad, you can't remember anything. I am sure this is what they offered Corinne. So you keep your mouth shut and don't say anything. Try to cope and then .....
sinsboldly
Veteran
Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Gender: Female
Posts: 13,488
Location: Bandon-by-the-Sea, Oregon
05 Apr 2008, 11:30 pm
chesapeaker wrote:
sinsboldly wrote:
PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Vicki Van Meter, who made headlines in the 1990s for piloting a plane across the United States at age 11 and from the U.S. to Europe at age 12, died in an apparent suicide. She was 26.
Vicki Van Meter's mother said "she had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter died Saturday of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Crawford County coroner said. Her body was found in her Meadville, Pennsylvania, home on Sunday.
Her brother said she battled depression, but her family thought she had been dealing with her problems.
"She was unhappy, but it was hard for her to open up about that, and we all thought that she was coping," Daniel Van Meter said. He said she had opposed taking medication.
Van Meter was celebrated in 1993 and 1994 when she made her cross-country and trans-Atlantic flights accompanied by only a flight instructor. Her instructors said she was at the controls during the entirety of both trips.
"If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything," Van Meter said before her second trip. In her teens, she said she hoped to become an astronaut when she grew up.
Later she earned a degree in criminal justice from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania and spent two years with the Peace Corps in the former Soviet republic of Moldova. She recently worked as an investigator for an insurance company.
Her mother, Corinne Van Meter, said her daughter had begun applying to graduate schools and wanted to study psychology.
Van Meter was a sixth-grader in September 1993 when she flew from Augusta, Maine, to San Diego over five days. She had to fight strong headwinds and turbulence that bounced her single-engine Cessna 172 and made her sick.
At the time, she was believed to be the youngest girl to fly across the United States. That record was broken by a 9-year-old in 1994.
Also in 1994, Van Meter flew from Augusta to Glasgow, Scotland, and was credited with being the youngest girl to make a trans-Atlantic flight. She battled dizziness brought on by high altitude and declared upon landing: "I always thought it would be real hard, and it was."
The child pilot phenomenon ended in 1996, when 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff, her father and the instructor supervising the flight were killed in a crash in Wyoming while Jessica was trying to become the youngest person to fly across the country. Congress quickly passed a bill banning record-setting attempts by unlicensed pilots.
"I was really rooting for her, but I guess reality says accidents do happen," Van Meter, then 14, said at the time of the crash. "It's unfortunate it had to happen to someone so brave, someone trying to fulfill her dreams."
Corinne Van Meter said her daughter "led a full and interesting life. ... She had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter's funeral will be held in Meadville, but arrangements have not been finalized.
Vicki Van Meter's mother said "she had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter died Saturday of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Crawford County coroner said. Her body was found in her Meadville, Pennsylvania, home on Sunday.
Her brother said she battled depression, but her family thought she had been dealing with her problems.
"She was unhappy, but it was hard for her to open up about that, and we all thought that she was coping," Daniel Van Meter said. He said she had opposed taking medication.
Van Meter was celebrated in 1993 and 1994 when she made her cross-country and trans-Atlantic flights accompanied by only a flight instructor. Her instructors said she was at the controls during the entirety of both trips.
"If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything," Van Meter said before her second trip. In her teens, she said she hoped to become an astronaut when she grew up.
Later she earned a degree in criminal justice from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania and spent two years with the Peace Corps in the former Soviet republic of Moldova. She recently worked as an investigator for an insurance company.
Her mother, Corinne Van Meter, said her daughter had begun applying to graduate schools and wanted to study psychology.
Van Meter was a sixth-grader in September 1993 when she flew from Augusta, Maine, to San Diego over five days. She had to fight strong headwinds and turbulence that bounced her single-engine Cessna 172 and made her sick.
At the time, she was believed to be the youngest girl to fly across the United States. That record was broken by a 9-year-old in 1994.
Also in 1994, Van Meter flew from Augusta to Glasgow, Scotland, and was credited with being the youngest girl to make a trans-Atlantic flight. She battled dizziness brought on by high altitude and declared upon landing: "I always thought it would be real hard, and it was."
The child pilot phenomenon ended in 1996, when 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff, her father and the instructor supervising the flight were killed in a crash in Wyoming while Jessica was trying to become the youngest person to fly across the country. Congress quickly passed a bill banning record-setting attempts by unlicensed pilots.
"I was really rooting for her, but I guess reality says accidents do happen," Van Meter, then 14, said at the time of the crash. "It's unfortunate it had to happen to someone so brave, someone trying to fulfill her dreams."
Corinne Van Meter said her daughter "led a full and interesting life. ... She had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter's funeral will be held in Meadville, but arrangements have not been finalized.
I struggling with raw incapacitating depression. I also contemplate suicide everyday. I don't tell many people because I then get a lecture about how I should feel, and how others would feel, etc etc etc. I have often said there is more help for people who are alcoholics, addicts etc. There is no help for clinical depression. Nothing works, not one of the drugs, not any of the radical treatments wither. Eventual death is the only thing that can make the pain go away. Corinne Van Meter, like me, probably learned she would have to give up her personality to get help. I have learned to just keep my mouth shut because no one understands this unless you are another seriously depressed person. We are extremely sensitive about unfairness & injustice, and have considerable strength to try to do something about it. It finally breaks you and you have nothing left. I have been homeless, slept in a tent in the woods for months, slept in my care at 50 below zer, gone without food for a week at a time. No one really cares. You are homeless because people really don't want to understand or hear what you really feel on your terms. So you quietly kill yourself one day. My day is coming soon. I'm in a lot of unrelenting physical (6-8) & emotional (8-10) pain. If I mention it to someone who is "supposed" to help me their suggestion is to have ECT. If the drugs don't work, they fry your brain so bad, you can't remember anything. I am sure this is what they offered Corinne. So you keep your mouth shut and don't say anything. Try to cope and then .....
I know what you mean. Keep your mouth shut and don't say anything because they don't want to hear it. Some folks. . if they have social skills can bond with others. Matter of fact I have stood there and demanded from people that were supposed to give me succor and aide and they could not because they didn't feel any bonding energy from me and they were helpless to go against their first impressions.
sometimes I think we are stranger than they are able to know. I mean, they might not have what takes to respond professionally if they are working against their inbred social inculcation. What I am trying to say, they aren't feeling us and so are inable to help us because they can't get their triggering signals from us.
Merle
05 Apr 2008, 11:38 pm
sinsboldly wrote:
chesapeaker wrote:
sinsboldly wrote:
PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Vicki Van Meter, who made headlines in the 1990s for piloting a plane across the United States at age 11 and from the U.S. to Europe at age 12, died in an apparent suicide. She was 26.
Vicki Van Meter's mother said "she had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter died Saturday of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Crawford County coroner said. Her body was found in her Meadville, Pennsylvania, home on Sunday.
Her brother said she battled depression, but her family thought she had been dealing with her problems.
"She was unhappy, but it was hard for her to open up about that, and we all thought that she was coping," Daniel Van Meter said. He said she had opposed taking medication.
Van Meter was celebrated in 1993 and 1994 when she made her cross-country and trans-Atlantic flights accompanied by only a flight instructor. Her instructors said she was at the controls during the entirety of both trips.
"If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything," Van Meter said before her second trip. In her teens, she said she hoped to become an astronaut when she grew up.
Later she earned a degree in criminal justice from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania and spent two years with the Peace Corps in the former Soviet republic of Moldova. She recently worked as an investigator for an insurance company.
Her mother, Corinne Van Meter, said her daughter had begun applying to graduate schools and wanted to study psychology.
Van Meter was a sixth-grader in September 1993 when she flew from Augusta, Maine, to San Diego over five days. She had to fight strong headwinds and turbulence that bounced her single-engine Cessna 172 and made her sick.
At the time, she was believed to be the youngest girl to fly across the United States. That record was broken by a 9-year-old in 1994.
Also in 1994, Van Meter flew from Augusta to Glasgow, Scotland, and was credited with being the youngest girl to make a trans-Atlantic flight. She battled dizziness brought on by high altitude and declared upon landing: "I always thought it would be real hard, and it was."
The child pilot phenomenon ended in 1996, when 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff, her father and the instructor supervising the flight were killed in a crash in Wyoming while Jessica was trying to become the youngest person to fly across the country. Congress quickly passed a bill banning record-setting attempts by unlicensed pilots.
"I was really rooting for her, but I guess reality says accidents do happen," Van Meter, then 14, said at the time of the crash. "It's unfortunate it had to happen to someone so brave, someone trying to fulfill her dreams."
Corinne Van Meter said her daughter "led a full and interesting life. ... She had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter's funeral will be held in Meadville, but arrangements have not been finalized.
Vicki Van Meter's mother said "she had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter died Saturday of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Crawford County coroner said. Her body was found in her Meadville, Pennsylvania, home on Sunday.
Her brother said she battled depression, but her family thought she had been dealing with her problems.
"She was unhappy, but it was hard for her to open up about that, and we all thought that she was coping," Daniel Van Meter said. He said she had opposed taking medication.
Van Meter was celebrated in 1993 and 1994 when she made her cross-country and trans-Atlantic flights accompanied by only a flight instructor. Her instructors said she was at the controls during the entirety of both trips.
"If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything," Van Meter said before her second trip. In her teens, she said she hoped to become an astronaut when she grew up.
Later she earned a degree in criminal justice from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania and spent two years with the Peace Corps in the former Soviet republic of Moldova. She recently worked as an investigator for an insurance company.
Her mother, Corinne Van Meter, said her daughter had begun applying to graduate schools and wanted to study psychology.
Van Meter was a sixth-grader in September 1993 when she flew from Augusta, Maine, to San Diego over five days. She had to fight strong headwinds and turbulence that bounced her single-engine Cessna 172 and made her sick.
At the time, she was believed to be the youngest girl to fly across the United States. That record was broken by a 9-year-old in 1994.
Also in 1994, Van Meter flew from Augusta to Glasgow, Scotland, and was credited with being the youngest girl to make a trans-Atlantic flight. She battled dizziness brought on by high altitude and declared upon landing: "I always thought it would be real hard, and it was."
The child pilot phenomenon ended in 1996, when 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff, her father and the instructor supervising the flight were killed in a crash in Wyoming while Jessica was trying to become the youngest person to fly across the country. Congress quickly passed a bill banning record-setting attempts by unlicensed pilots.
"I was really rooting for her, but I guess reality says accidents do happen," Van Meter, then 14, said at the time of the crash. "It's unfortunate it had to happen to someone so brave, someone trying to fulfill her dreams."
Corinne Van Meter said her daughter "led a full and interesting life. ... She had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter's funeral will be held in Meadville, but arrangements have not been finalized.
I struggling with raw incapacitating depression. I also contemplate suicide everyday. I don't tell many people because I then get a lecture about how I should feel, and how others would feel, etc etc etc. I have often said there is more help for people who are alcoholics, addicts etc. There is no help for clinical depression. Nothing works, not one of the drugs, not any of the radical treatments wither. Eventual death is the only thing that can make the pain go away. Corinne Van Meter, like me, probably learned she would have to give up her personality to get help. I have learned to just keep my mouth shut because no one understands this unless you are another seriously depressed person. We are extremely sensitive about unfairness & injustice, and have considerable strength to try to do something about it. It finally breaks you and you have nothing left. I have been homeless, slept in a tent in the woods for months, slept in my care at 50 below zer, gone without food for a week at a time. No one really cares. You are homeless because people really don't want to understand or hear what you really feel on your terms. So you quietly kill yourself one day. My day is coming soon. I'm in a lot of unrelenting physical (6-8) & emotional (8-10) pain. If I mention it to someone who is "supposed" to help me their suggestion is to have ECT. If the drugs don't work, they fry your brain so bad, you can't remember anything. I am sure this is what they offered Corinne. So you keep your mouth shut and don't say anything. Try to cope and then .....
I know what you mean. Keep your mouth shut and don't say anything because they don't want to hear it. Some folks. . if they have social skills can bond with others. Matter of fact I have stood there and demanded from people that were supposed to give me succor and aide and they could not because they didn't feel any bonding energy from me and they were helpless to go against their first impressions.
sometimes I think we are stranger than they are able to know. I mean, they might not have what takes to respond professionally if they are working against their inbred social inculcation. What I am trying to say, they aren't feeling us and so are inable to help us because they can't get their triggering signals from us.
Merle
Exactly, well put. Yeah, I am just biding my time now. I'm really tired of being in this bizarro world, not meaning this internet site. Meaning the entire outer world. I have very good reasons for being so depressed. Things are never going to be any different for me. And because I am 60, there is nothing but more and faster downhill. I've accepted life as it is. I don't have enough money or other resources to live. I'm ready to move on.
sinsboldly
Veteran
Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Gender: Female
Posts: 13,488
Location: Bandon-by-the-Sea, Oregon
06 Apr 2008, 12:19 am
chesapeaker wrote:
sinsboldly wrote:
chesapeaker wrote:
sinsboldly wrote:
PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Vicki Van Meter, who made headlines in the 1990s for piloting a plane across the United States at age 11 and from the U.S. to Europe at age 12, died in an apparent suicide. She was 26.
Vicki Van Meter's mother said "she had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter died Saturday of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Crawford County coroner said. Her body was found in her Meadville, Pennsylvania, home on Sunday.
Her brother said she battled depression, but her family thought she had been dealing with her problems.
"She was unhappy, but it was hard for her to open up about that, and we all thought that she was coping," Daniel Van Meter said. He said she had opposed taking medication.
Van Meter was celebrated in 1993 and 1994 when she made her cross-country and trans-Atlantic flights accompanied by only a flight instructor. Her instructors said she was at the controls during the entirety of both trips.
"If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything," Van Meter said before her second trip. In her teens, she said she hoped to become an astronaut when she grew up.
Later she earned a degree in criminal justice from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania and spent two years with the Peace Corps in the former Soviet republic of Moldova. She recently worked as an investigator for an insurance company.
Her mother, Corinne Van Meter, said her daughter had begun applying to graduate schools and wanted to study psychology.
Van Meter was a sixth-grader in September 1993 when she flew from Augusta, Maine, to San Diego over five days. She had to fight strong headwinds and turbulence that bounced her single-engine Cessna 172 and made her sick.
At the time, she was believed to be the youngest girl to fly across the United States. That record was broken by a 9-year-old in 1994.
Also in 1994, Van Meter flew from Augusta to Glasgow, Scotland, and was credited with being the youngest girl to make a trans-Atlantic flight. She battled dizziness brought on by high altitude and declared upon landing: "I always thought it would be real hard, and it was."
The child pilot phenomenon ended in 1996, when 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff, her father and the instructor supervising the flight were killed in a crash in Wyoming while Jessica was trying to become the youngest person to fly across the country. Congress quickly passed a bill banning record-setting attempts by unlicensed pilots.
"I was really rooting for her, but I guess reality says accidents do happen," Van Meter, then 14, said at the time of the crash. "It's unfortunate it had to happen to someone so brave, someone trying to fulfill her dreams."
Corinne Van Meter said her daughter "led a full and interesting life. ... She had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter's funeral will be held in Meadville, but arrangements have not been finalized.
Vicki Van Meter's mother said "she had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter died Saturday of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Crawford County coroner said. Her body was found in her Meadville, Pennsylvania, home on Sunday.
Her brother said she battled depression, but her family thought she had been dealing with her problems.
"She was unhappy, but it was hard for her to open up about that, and we all thought that she was coping," Daniel Van Meter said. He said she had opposed taking medication.
Van Meter was celebrated in 1993 and 1994 when she made her cross-country and trans-Atlantic flights accompanied by only a flight instructor. Her instructors said she was at the controls during the entirety of both trips.
"If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything," Van Meter said before her second trip. In her teens, she said she hoped to become an astronaut when she grew up.
Later she earned a degree in criminal justice from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania and spent two years with the Peace Corps in the former Soviet republic of Moldova. She recently worked as an investigator for an insurance company.
Her mother, Corinne Van Meter, said her daughter had begun applying to graduate schools and wanted to study psychology.
Van Meter was a sixth-grader in September 1993 when she flew from Augusta, Maine, to San Diego over five days. She had to fight strong headwinds and turbulence that bounced her single-engine Cessna 172 and made her sick.
At the time, she was believed to be the youngest girl to fly across the United States. That record was broken by a 9-year-old in 1994.
Also in 1994, Van Meter flew from Augusta to Glasgow, Scotland, and was credited with being the youngest girl to make a trans-Atlantic flight. She battled dizziness brought on by high altitude and declared upon landing: "I always thought it would be real hard, and it was."
The child pilot phenomenon ended in 1996, when 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff, her father and the instructor supervising the flight were killed in a crash in Wyoming while Jessica was trying to become the youngest person to fly across the country. Congress quickly passed a bill banning record-setting attempts by unlicensed pilots.
"I was really rooting for her, but I guess reality says accidents do happen," Van Meter, then 14, said at the time of the crash. "It's unfortunate it had to happen to someone so brave, someone trying to fulfill her dreams."
Corinne Van Meter said her daughter "led a full and interesting life. ... She had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."
Van Meter's funeral will be held in Meadville, but arrangements have not been finalized.
I struggling with raw incapacitating depression. I also contemplate suicide everyday. I don't tell many people because I then get a lecture about how I should feel, and how others would feel, etc etc etc. I have often said there is more help for people who are alcoholics, addicts etc. There is no help for clinical depression. Nothing works, not one of the drugs, not any of the radical treatments wither. Eventual death is the only thing that can make the pain go away. Corinne Van Meter, like me, probably learned she would have to give up her personality to get help. I have learned to just keep my mouth shut because no one understands this unless you are another seriously depressed person. We are extremely sensitive about unfairness & injustice, and have considerable strength to try to do something about it. It finally breaks you and you have nothing left. I have been homeless, slept in a tent in the woods for months, slept in my care at 50 below zer, gone without food for a week at a time. No one really cares. You are homeless because people really don't want to understand or hear what you really feel on your terms. So you quietly kill yourself one day. My day is coming soon. I'm in a lot of unrelenting physical (6-8) & emotional (8-10) pain. If I mention it to someone who is "supposed" to help me their suggestion is to have ECT. If the drugs don't work, they fry your brain so bad, you can't remember anything. I am sure this is what they offered Corinne. So you keep your mouth shut and don't say anything. Try to cope and then .....
I know what you mean. Keep your mouth shut and don't say anything because they don't want to hear it. Some folks. . if they have social skills can bond with others. Matter of fact I have stood there and demanded from people that were supposed to give me succor and aide and they could not because they didn't feel any bonding energy from me and they were helpless to go against their first impressions.
sometimes I think we are stranger than they are able to know. I mean, they might not have what takes to respond professionally if they are working against their inbred social inculcation. What I am trying to say, they aren't feeling us and so are inable to help us because they can't get their triggering signals from us.
Merle
Exactly, well put. Yeah, I am just biding my time now. I'm really tired of being in this bizarro world, not meaning this internet site. Meaning the entire outer world. I have very good reasons for being so depressed. Things are never going to be any different for me. And because I am 60, there is nothing but more and faster downhill. I've accepted life as it is. I don't have enough money or other resources to live. I'm ready to move on.
Exactly! I am just two years behind you at 58, but I have got to tell you I have packed a lot of living into my life, I have minimal social security coming, and so very very little in a non vested retirement plan at work. Sometimes I hear of people getting a disease that needs extensive treatment to 'fight' to get back to health again in their later years and I think wow, that would be my 10 minute warning, and I will finally be able to lay this body down!
Merle
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KBABZ
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06 Apr 2008, 7:10 am
KBABZ wrote:
I know the sort of thing. I thought she was doing just fine, but... well, we know what happened. :(
Yeah, people always act shocked at these murder rampages going on, too. I certainly understand why those people do that. Pepple wonder how a woman could drown her 5 kids, too. I understand that one, too. Despair and pain, and wanting to do something about relieving the horrors you feel. Not wanting to bring your kids up in the despair and pain. Just one of many reasons. But the helping people haven't connected the dots between the disparage in income, the hopelessness and the stigmas attached to any type of illness, syndromes etc. And if you act like you are supposed to act, stalwart, no one will know and they will be shocked. We are having a wave of bank robberies. I mean, this is the rural midwest. People don't rob banks. People haven't robbed banks like this since the 1930's. People are desperate.
KBABZ
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06 Apr 2008, 3:35 pm
Agreed. How can you tell how the person is doing if everyone around you tells you to "Hold your chin up" or "Stop being so depressing"? Acting how you feel is much better than acting to conform to everyone else, and then shocking them when you finally decide to do it, causing them to go all "Oh no, I thought she was doing okay!"
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And sadness turned to comfort
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KBABZ
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06 Apr 2008, 3:39 pm
Kilroy wrote:
KBABZ wrote:
I know the sort of thing. I thought she was doing just fine, but... well, we know what happened. 
I knew she wasn't
everyone could see it
but its a tragedy
and so is this incident
I know, she never did feel okay, but, I didn't think to that extent. I guess I was still too naive to see it.
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I was sad when I found that she left
But then I found
That I could speak to her,
In a way
And sadness turned to comfort
We all go there
KBABZ
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passionatebach
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25 Sep 2010, 11:40 pm
I was searching for a thread about a recent article in the Atlantic on autism and came across this thread. I remember when these kids were doing this. I actually met one of the youngest people to fly around the world, Tony Aliengena. He was some type of friend to my sister in law's family and showed up at my brother and sister in laws wedding a number of years ago. He made for interesting conversation, but I came to the conclusion that he was kind of pushed into different endeavors by his parents including the aviation feats at a young age. His parents seemed to have these different "out there" steps or goals for him. I guess he now runs some type of firm in Utah that deals with trucking and shipments.
I really do wonder how much the parents play in getting these kids to do these type of things?
27 Sep 2010, 3:52 pm
wsmac wrote:
I wonder what type of work she did in Monrovia?
Moldova, not Monrovia. Monrovia's the capital of Liberia, in Africa. Moldova's a former Soviet state, in Europe.
Regarding the original post, this is sad. I was pretty young at the time, but I remember those headlines. That's a shame.
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