After tragedy, eatery honors ‘legend’
Friends, patrons mourn after plane crash in Michigan kills restaurant owner and wife
The American flag was fluttering in the wind at half-staff Tuesday at Lone Star Grill in Bacliff.
The burger, steak and seafood joint near Trinity Bay had kept its doors closed Monday, when employees heard the news that owner Greg Boaz had died in a weekend plane crash in Detroit.
But by mid-afternoon Tuesday, a few customers started drifting into the casual spot, where happy hour starts at 11 a.m. and Boaz’s favorite popcountry Pandora station still echoed over the speakers.
“It’s painful,” said manager Robert Stevens. “It feels like a family member’s gone, because a family member’s gone.”
Boaz, 54, and his wife, Julie, 48, were killed Sunday when their single-engine Cessna crashed in a Detroit residential neighborhood after flying from West Memphis, Ark.
Greg Boaz’s son, Peyton, survived the crash; the 17-year-old can be seen on video rolling away from the fiery plane. On Tuesday, he remained in a Detroit hospital being treated for thirddegree burns and smoke inhalation.
The three were flying to meet Peyton’s mother and sister in Detroit, according to the Detroit News. Peyton’s sister, Krysta, was competing this week in the USA Volleyball Girls’ Junior National Championship.
Greg Boaz also owned Palapa Bar, a sprawling party spot just a couple of blocks from the Kemah Boardwalk.
Grieving staffers at both businesses “have been assured by the family that the business and the legend will go on, because that’s what Greg would want,” the bar’s Facebook page said Monday.
“It feels like a family member’s gone, because a family member’s gone.” Lone Star Grill Manager Robert Stevens
Gear malfunctioned
The Boaz family was flying to Detroit from Arkansas in a Cessna 210 when the landing gear malfunctioned, according to Air Safety investigator Andrew Todd Fox with the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB plans a full investigation of the crash. Fox told the Detroit News that the plane was registered to an owner with an address in Texas and he bought the 1978 aircraft in April. Federal records show the plane is registered to Greg Boaz.
“It’s a horrible tragedy,” Stevens said. “There’s no way he would do anything to endanger his wife and son.”
Boaz and Julie Boaz had married fairly recently, Stevens said, and Boaz was visibly happy.
“You know how it is,” he said of Boaz. “When everything’s clicking and everything’s right in the world, you can kind of see it.”
Meanwhile, some of Peyton Boaz’s friends have started mobilizing to help their friend.
Sophia Nilssen, who said she’s been Peyton’s best friend since second grade, set up a GoFundMe account, gofundme.com/peytonboaz, to help pay for his medical care and his transport home.
Nilssen, a senior at Clear Creek High School, said she wanted to give herself something productive to do while she waits to hear more news about her friend. “I wanted to distract myself,” she said. “Like: What can I do to help?”
Nilssen emptied out her own savings account, full of money she earned working at Whataburger. Then she asked friends and family to contribute.
At first, she thought she’d just collect a couple of hundred dollars. But by Tuesday evening, Nilssen had raised more than $3,000, including donations from strangers and from classmates. One friend donated the full $14 in her bank account, she said.
Peyton is “such a kind person,” Nilssen said. The two met in second grade on the playground and have been friends ever since, she said — even though they go to different high schools (Peyton is a senior at Clear Falls High).
‘We’re the light’
Nilssen said she was astonished by the number of donors she had — even from people who are strangers.
“That’s what is blowing me away,” she said. “All you hear is negative; you don’t want to turn on the news anymore — and suddenly, you find complete strangers out there willing to give money.”
In Detroit, hours after the tragedy, Krysta took to the court with her teammates and is leaning on them as she copes with the tragedy, team coach MaryMargaret Armstrong told the Detroit News.
“She woke up in the morning and when the team came to surround her with love, she already had her uniform on and she was ready to go,” the coach said. “I think it’s a muchneeded distraction. There’s a lot of darkness around her and we’re the light.”
No funeral arrangements for Julie and Greg Boaz have been announced.
alyson.ward@chron.com twitter.com/alysonward