Florence grieves the loss of ‘driving forces in the community’ after 4 killed in plane crash

FLORENCE, Colo. (KRDO) -- The City of Florence is remembering the lives of four community members that were killed in a plane crash over the weekend.

The Teller County Coroner has identified those four individuals as Bruce Claremont, Laurie Aves, and Roger and Kathryn Duncan.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the small plane was en route to the Centennial Airport when the plane crashed into mountainous terrain south of Victor, Colorado.

"You can walk up and down Main Street in Florence and Lori, the Duncans and Bruce, they touched everybody in this community in some way, form or fashion," said Kevin Mahmalji, founder of the Florence Reporter newspaper. "When you talk about the impact of losing these four people, you're talking about, I don't know, half a dozen, 10, 12 businesses locally that are without owners."

The news of the plane crash has completely rocked the community as they remember the influential lives of the four lost.

Florence Mayor Paul Villagrana said the tragedy is impacting and will continue to impact the entire community. He said there was a deep respect for the four victims and their perspectives as they worked to grow the City of Florence into a town they were all proud of.

"People really understood and cared for these people, so it's a huge loss," said Villagrana.

Mahmalji says he is hoping to plan a vigil to honor the lives of Bruce, Laurie, Roger and Kathryn, but there is currently no date set.