Whitacre funeral fund
Home Care by Black Stone, the office where Tara Whitacre’s mother Martha works, has set up Key Bank account to assist the family with funeral expenses and arrangements. Donations can be made at any Key Bank under the account: For the benefit of Tara Whitacre and family (under the name Shawna Moyer).
XENIA — Tennessee attorney Robert “Tim” Hatton was an experienced pilot and “probably a genius,” according to a Xenia attorney and friend who attended the University of Dayton Law School with him.
Hatton, 52, was killed Saturday in a small plane crash along with his legal assistant in Guntersville, Ala. Tara Lynn Whitacre, 32, was a single mother of two who lived in Xenia, but did legal paperwork for Hatton.
On Sunday, her daughter, 4-year-old Hailee Day, died at Huntsville Hospital for Women and Children.
Hospital spokeswoman Andrea Prestridge said Whitacre’s son, 7-year-old Gavin Whitacre, was in critical condition Monday in the hospital’s Pediatric ICU unit. His relatives are there monitoring his recovery.
The four-seat fixed wing, single-engine Piper Cherokee 140 crashed at 9:50 a.m. CDT Saturday because of unknown circumstances about a quarter-mile south of the Guntersville Municipal Airport, said Kathleen Bergin, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash. The NTSB on Monday released no new details about the crash.
Xenia attorney Kenneth R. Sheets once shared a firm with Hatton and knew him for 30 years. Sheets said Hatton was a pilot even before they met. They spoke regularly, and Sheets said Monday that Hatton was happy that he was about to get a new airplane.
“When I heard about the crash, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, he just got this plane and something went wrong,’ ” Sheets said. “Tim was so meticulous, so particular, so confident about things like that. I’m at a loss to figure out what happened.
“I’m interested to see what the FAA investigation is going to reveal about what happened because I can’t believe he made a mistake. It’s just not in his nature.”
Sheets said Hatton practiced law in Kentucky after graduating from UD. Sheets said Hatton left the profession to become a computer programmer and said Hatton told him he wrote some books about programming. Hatton later returned to law and opened a practice in Lebanon, Tenn.
Whitacre had done some temporary legal document work for Sheets, who said Hatton and Whitacre got to know each other while both working for Dayton attorney Lester Thompson.
“She was very good at the document part of the job,” Sheets said. “She was hoping to get back into school.”
Sheets said he knew Whitacre’s brothers from coaching soccer and baseball with Whitacre’s father, Tom.
Whitacre drove to Nashville on Friday with her children, said Casey Carter of Xenia, a family friend. On Saturday, they left with Hatton to spend the weekend on the beach at Destin Beach, Fla., Carter said.
Xenia police said Whitacre’s house in the 900 block of South Detroit Street was burglarized sometime between 1 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday. A police report said three televisions and a video game system were removed, according to a friend who was watching the house.
“I don’t know the relationship between the tragic events of this weekend and/or what happened,” said Xenia police Capt. Scott Anger. “What I can tell you is this area has been a little bit higher in crime lately with some thefts.”
In the past two years, there have been other police calls to Whitacre’s address, including incidents such as breaking and entering and burglary.
On Monday, some flowers and children’s toys were placed on the swing at Whitacre’s home, as tribute to Whitacre and her daughter.
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