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Levi Y. McDonel

Hugo, Oklahoma Newspaper, date unknown.
contributed by Sue Glaze Dale

"Fall from Plane Fatal for Small Boy; Services Pending in Hugo."

Services were pending with Lampton-Mills Funeral Home in Hugo this morning for a 23-month-old boy who was killed Sunday when he fell more than 500 feet from an airplane that had just taken off from the Grandfield (Okla) airport in southwestern Oklahoma, Hugo relatives reported this morning. Steve Overstreet, undersheriff in Tillman County in far southwestern Oklahoma, identified the victim as Levi Y. McDonel of Edmond. Levi's parents are former Hugo residents, Mr. and Mrs. Daryl McDonel who reside in Edmond. Mr. McDonel is a former agent here for the Daily Oklahoman and Oklahoma City Times. Mrs. McDonel is the former Miss Janet Hutchings, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. V. (Sonny) Hutchings. Overstreet said the single engine plane had taken off from the Grandfield airport and was turning left at an altitude of somewhere between 500 and 1,000 feet when the cargo door blew open, and the boy fell out. Other passengers in the airplane were the child's father, an uncle, Cleatus K. McDonel, 21, of Stillwater, pilot of the plane, and Clarence D. McDonel, 48 of Altus, the infant's grandfather, Overstreet said. The plane is equipped with two front seats, one double sized back seat and a cargo area, he said. "Apparently, all of the others were seated in the plane," Overstreet said, "The child was standing up in the cargo area when the door opened." "The cargo door popped open and just sucked the boy out," he said, "It was a very freakish deal, a one-in-a thousand type thing." The undersheriff said the family apparently had been in Tillman County to view a parachute jumping competition, and had taken off to return to the grandfather's home in Altus at the time of the accident. After the child fell, the pilot immediately landed the plane, Overstreet said. The boy's body was found by his relatives in a field nearby. He was dead at the scene of massive injuries, the undersheriff said. Levi was born December 20, 1980 in Clinton, Okla. In addition to his parents, he is survived by two sisters, Heather and Crystal of the Edmond home; grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. W. V. Hutchings of Hugo and Mr. and Mrs. C. D. McDonel of Altus; and great grandparents, Mrs. Estella Loftin, and Mr. and Mrs. Loyd Black, all of Hugo.