Snowbird captain was living her dream
Jenn Casey had a way with adventure, telling stories every step of the way, family says
The public affairs captain who died Sunday in the crash of a Snowbird jet had been living out her dream job before the tragedy, her family says.
“Operation INSPIRATION is a mission with one focus, making Canadians happy in a time of uncertainty,” said a statement credited to the family and released by the Air Force on Wednesday. “There was no better person in this world to carry out that mission than Jenn.”
The fatal incident occurred in a residential area of Kamloops, B.C., during a nationwide operation by the famed Canadian Forces flying team to lift the spirits of Canadians suffering through the COVID-19 pandemic. It took place less than three weeks after six Forces members died when their helicopter plunged into the sea off the coast of Greece. It was the second time a Snowbird has crashed in less than a year.
News of Casey’s death has sent shock waves across the country. Friends, teachers and former colleagues have recalled 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.
Casey’s family — who are not named in the statement but identify themselves as her grandparents, parents, sister and friend — called her a lifelong storyteller, who was living out her dream job telling the stories of Canada’s men and women in uniform.
Her love of storytelling brought her first to the world of journalism. She studied at the University of King’s College in Halifax, and worked for News 95.7. Though she would later travel far and wide, she never gave up her love of her home province, Nova Scotia, the family said.
“Her journey took her many places, but her heart was always at home in Halifax,” Casey’s family wrote.
She joined the Forces in 2014 in the field of public affairs, where her loved ones say she was quickly welcomed into a military family. Her placement with the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, the family wrote, was one she “truly loved.”
“As she makes her way back to Nova Scotia to her final resting place, we ask those that knew and loved Jenn to cherish the memories that you have of her and continue to bask in the light that she shone on everyone’s life,” the statement reads. “She is gone but will never be forgotten.”
The Snowbird fleet has been put on “an operational pause,” and the team’s mission, dubbed Operation Inspiration, has been “delayed indefinitely.” An RCAF flight safety team was being dispatched form Ottawa to investigate the accident.