Covenant News

Covenanter Among Dead in Alaska Airlines Crash

SANTA ROSA, CA (February 15, 2000) - Services were held recently for Ellen "Collie" Masland Salyer, 51, a regular attendee at Redwood Covenant Church and a resident of nearby Sebastopol, who died in the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 off the coast of Southern California.

Salyer had gone to Puerto Vallarta to prepare a recently purchased condominium for her son Nick Anderson, who is a staff writer in the Los Angeles Times Washington bureau along with his wife, Esther Schrader. Salyer had planned to stay only until January 30, but extended her trip a day and was on fatal flight that killed 88 people.

According to a news story published in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, nearly 500 people packed Santa Rosa's First Presbyterian Church for Salyer's memorial service. Salyer, a Certified Public Accountant, retired in 1993 to work with her husband, Phil, and to spend more time with her grandchildren and be involved in community organizations.

She was chiefly known in her area for work with Face to Face, Sonoma County's AIDS network, which provides hospice and other support for patients. She was a former chair of the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce and had used a small inheritance to purchase an apartment in Cherkassy, Ukraine, which served as a center for abused women. The project won a $50,000 State Department grant and was named after Salyer.

"Every time she gave to the community, it nurtured her," said Phil Salyer in the Press Democrat article. "Six years ago she gave up her job and devoted herself to giving. That is what fed her."

Born in Pennsylvania, Salyer came to California in the 1970s. Following a divorce, she raised her two children, Nick and Ingrid, by managing an apartment complex.

Tim Maloney, administrative director of Redwood Covenant, said Salyer came to church in February 1998, recommitted her life to Christ a month later, and continued attending with daughter Ingrid Clark and grandsons Frank and Ian.

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