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Published in the Washington Post - October 5, 2008
Stephen H. Bunker and Tonya Mallard didn't know each other but lived barely a couple miles apart in Waldorf.
He was a retired state trooper with three grown children and a pilot's license. She was a volunteer medic and stay-at-home mother of two young boys. His friends called him a "man's man." Her friends had their hair done in a small salon she created in her basement.
Their lives came together late Sept. 27 when they boarded a Maryland State Police medical helicopter with two teenage car accident victims. The accident occurred on a wet Waldorf road, halfway between Bunker's and Mallard's homes.
Bunker, 59, was the pilot who had logged more than 5,000 hours in state police helicopters. Mallard, 39, was the last-minute, tag-along medic who had never been on a helicopter. Both died when the helicopter crashed in bad weather in Prince George's County. Also killed were paramedic Mickey C. Lippy of Carroll County and patient Ashley J. Younger of Waldorf. Patient Jordan Wells survived.
Yesterday morning, Mallard's family and friends gathered at a Waldorf high school gymnasium for her funeral. Two hours later, at a church just south of Waldorf, Bunker's family and friends did the same.
"Tonya, Mickey, Steve laid down their lives for my daughter," Scott Wells, father of the survivor, said at Bunker's funeral at South Potomac Church in White Plains. "There are heroes, and then there are the rest of us. You guys are heroes."
Speakers at the funerals revealed that Bunker and Mallard had much in common: Both were dedicated to their Christian faith and families and a mission to help others.
Mallard, a District native, became a medical assistant soon after graduating from Northwestern High School in Prince George's County. Her first job was at the Navy Annex in Arlington County, where she met her husband, Kenneth. The couple would have celebrated their eighth wedding anniversary this week.
Mallard quit work soon after her second son, Kenneth Jr., was born, to care for him and his brother, Julian. She often called their schools to check in, volunteered in classrooms and attended PTA meetings. She got to know many neighbors well during walks with the family dog, Oscar, and her kitchen buzzed with chatty visitors.
When Kenneth Jr. started school full time in 2004, Mallard joined the local volunteer fire department as a medic.
Waldorf Fire Chief Dan Stevens said she showed up for training in flip-flops and quickly learned from teasing colleagues that she would have to wear closed-toe shoes.
As a medic, Mallard answered as many calls as possible, comforting numerous patients with her warm smile, and volunteering for tasks others would bypass -- including jumping into the Trooper 2 medevac helicopter that Saturday night, Stevens said at the service at North Point High School.
Other medics recalled that it was Mallard's first helicopter ride, but, Stevens said, "she had a look of peace on her face" as she boarded.
Julian, 15, and Kenneth Jr., 11, spoke of how they would miss their mother. "Everything I do now is for her," Kenneth Jr. said. After each finished, hundreds stood and clapped.
Kenneth "Kenny" Mallard thanked the dozens of volunteer medics and firefighters who attended the funeral "for allowing her to be remembered as a hero."
Bunker, an Annapolis native, had been flying for many years. He joined the Maryland State Police in 1972 and was promoted to the aviation command in 1984, putting him at the controls of medical helicopters. Bunker retired from the state police in 1998 as a corporal but remained with the aviation command as a civilian pilot.
Bunker was levelheaded and did not take chances, whether he was behind the wheel of a squad car or at the controls of a helicopter, said Col. Terrence B. Sheridan, the state police superintendent. Even with his 60th birthday approaching, Sheridan said, "there was no indication that he was going to slow down."
As a young trooper, Bunker helped train Vernon R. Herron, now the Prince George's public safety director. Bunker taught him lessons on the street that were "nothing like they teach you at the police academy," Herron said during the funeral.
During a patrol on Interstate 95, a motorist cut in front of the troopers, nearly causing an accident. As Herron tried to recover from the shock, Bunker smiled and turned on his flashing lights. "I said to myself, 'Nothing shakes this guy,' " Herron said.
While the two were stationed at the state police barracks in Forestville, Herron said, he saw a picture of Bunker's girlfriend, Sherry Bice, and was struck by her good looks. "I looked at the picture; I looked at Steve. I'm like, 'Steve, you're a nice guy, but you're not that nice," Herron said, laughing.
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) lived next door to the Bice family at the time and said he remembered when a state police car started showing up "not on official duty."
Sherry Bice eventually became Sherry Bunker, and the couple would have celebrated their 23rd anniversary this month. They had three children and filled their days with soccer and basketball games, church and youth group functions, and dance and music recitals.
The oldest, Stacie, is a University of Maryland student. The middle child, Scott, plans to transfer to the university next year. And the youngest, Shelby, is a junior in high school. Bunker was "a hero to his family, and a hero to all of us," Hoyer said.
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Pilot Stephen H. Bunker, a retired MSP Corporal, was killed in a helicopter crash while performing a medical evacuation of two critically injured teenagers from Charles County, Maryland.