Victim of fatal crash ‘absolutely loved what she did’
Former journalist, Casey remembered by friends for spreading happiness
“We’re seeing a tweet about a Snowbird plane crashing in Kamloops. Are you OK?”
It was Sunday, just before noon in Vancouver, when Global News producer Nick Logan tapped out the concerned message to his charismatic and funloving friend — Capt. Jennifer Casey.
Aformer journalist, Casey had found a new passion with the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, as the team’s public affairs officer. Logan knew she often joined the pilots in the sky.
The minutes ticked by with no response. More details about the crash reached the newsroom. And Logan soon found himself in the surreal position of helping to broadcast a news story that he himself was struggling to accept.
“I was like, ‘I don’t want this to be true,’ ” Logan said. “‘Oh my God. Don’t let this be my friend.’ ”
Casey was a passenger on Snowbird11, which crashed into a nearby neighbourhood, shortly after leaving Kamloops Airport on Sunday, the Snowbirds commanding officer, Lt.
Col. Mike French, said in a statement Monday. Casey and the pilot, Capt. Rich MacDougall, ejected before the crash. MacDougall survived with nonlife-threatening injuries, but Casey died. She was 35.
“The team is devastated by the loss of Jenn,” French said, describing her as “tireless and energetic” and “the quintessential public affairs officer.”
“She absolutely loved what she did,” he said.
News of Casey’s death has sent shock waves across Canada, as friends, teachers, and former colleagues remember her as a constant source of positivity, who approached life’s challenges — from breaking into the journalism industry to her second career in the military — with determination, intelligence and grace.
“Her moods were infectious,” said Richard Zurawski, a Halifax regional councillor who worked with Casey at News 95.7 in Halifax.
“She gave everybody happiness,” Zurawski said. “She was genuinely a pleasure to work with. What you saw was what you got with her – no games. The world is just a lesser place today.”
Casey grew up in Halifax, where she attended Dalhousie University and journalism school at the University of King’s College. Logan, who met Casey at King’s, said they forged an “instant” connection.
“She was one of the most outgoing people. If you were at a party or you were in a group setting, you were going to meet Jenn Casey one way or another,” he said. “She had an infectious smile, infectious laughter. You just wanted to get to know her.”
Angele Cano was paired up with Casey for one of the first assignments at King’s, which involved interviewing each other about their lives.
“She really cared about what I had to say,” Cano said. “She was smart, into sports, hilarious, gorgeous, but never made you feel that you were not any of those things.”
Her talent and drive distinguished her at King’s, said her former professor, Stephen Kimber. “She was somebody who seemed to know instinctively what was important in a journalistic sense – what was a story, what you needed to make a story,” Kimber said. “She was very good at getting people at ease and getting them to talk. People opened up to her.”
It was no surprise, Kimber said, that Casey got a job offer at News 95.7 before finishing the program in early 2009. She put her studies on hold for a few years, but returned in 2011 to complete the remaining coursework while working full-time at the radio station.
“When she left, I really didn’t expect her to come back, and I was quite delighted when she did,” he said.
Casey also worked in radio in Belleville, Ont., before joining the Canadian Armed Forces in 2014.
Her first assignment as a public affairs officer was at 8 Wing Trenton, the Royal Canadian Air Force’s home of air mobility, according to her biography on the Snowbirds website. She spent the 2018 season with the CF-18 Demo Team, travelling North America and the U.K. with the NORAD 60 jet, and joined the Snowbirds in November 2018.
Logan said he was initially surprised by the move, and disappointed because Casey was “such a good storyteller.”
But he soon realized that the high-energy, adventurous job was “a perfect fit” and that she was “still telling stories, but in a different way.”
Casey’s death brought a tragic end to the Snowbirds countrywide tour, dubbed Operation Inspiration, intended to lift spirits during COVID-19.
In his remarks on Monday, French, the Snowbirds commanding officer, said Casey was “one of the main reasons Operation Inspiration was so well received by the public.”