UNION CITY, Mich. — Loved ones of Chayton Wiescholek remember him as the kind of man who’d do anything for anyone. Wiescholek was from a tiny community near Union City, about 30 miles south of Battle Creek.
He died in a hot air balloon crash outside of Phoenix, Arizona, on Sunday morning.
Wiescholek was one of four people killed in the crash. One person was seriously hurt. In total, 13 people were aboard the hot air balloon. Eight were skydivers, who all safely exited the balloon.
One of those skydivers was Wiescholek’s girlfriend, Kinsey Taylor. Chayton’s mom says her son’s final message was to Kinsey.
“She looked at her phone and had a message from my son. It said ‘I love you.’ He knew he was going to die,” Rhonda Wiescholek, Chayton’s mom, said.
“Chayton texted Kinsey on the way down and said that this ain’t gonna be good, ‘I love you, goodbye,’ and signed off. So his last thoughts were with his girlfriend,” Gary Wiescholek, Chayton’s dad, said.
The exact cause of the crash is unknown, but preliminary information from officials says it has something to do with an “unspecified problem” with the balloon’s envelope.
Chayton was supposed to take over the family farm near Union City, according to his dad. Chayton’s mom, Rhonda, who caught the first flight she could out to Arizona, says the last two days have been a blur.
“Numb … just numb. Not a lot you can do when your heart’s broken,” Rhonda said.
A GoFundMe has been set up to support Chayton’s family and it can be found here.