There were a lot of people, including her husband, who tried to talk Kim Felix out of taking the now-fatal helicopter ride she had won in a raffle.
But nothing could stop the 48-year-old mother of three.
"My wife was a very independent spirit and liked to try a lot of things, and she kept saying, 'This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,'" Don Felix told News4.
Don Felix said his wife, who was a PTA volunteer and a Brownie troop leader, won the helicopter ride by putting her business card in a drawing during a recent Chamber of Commerce event.
"She just won this trip," he said. "I think there are a lot of people who tried to influence her not to be on the helicopter."
Felix added: "It was her choice and her being part of something that's involved in charity work is a benefit to her... It's a testament to the kinds of things she was involved in."
Jeff Nordass, 24, of Columbia; George Tutor, Jr., 39, of Westminster; and, Niall Booth, 43, of New Market were also on board the chopper when it went down on Interstate 70 just after 10:30 p.m. Thursday. The three men were co-workers at the Frederick-based Advanced Helicopter Youth Foundation, and all four victims were on their way back home after finishing for troubled youth in Hagerstown when they died.
Nordas took up flying because his father was a pilot, according to his brother, who told News4 that Jeff was an inspiration to everyone around him.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators say, because of bad weather, Nordass waited two hours before flying. Witnesses reported seeing the chopper flying low, where power lines run 70 feet above ground, and sparks coming from the helicopter right before the crash.
Booth, a father of two teens, loved helping people, a friend of his said.
"Part of me got to believe, heck, if this is to be your end, he was doing what he really loved," Booth's friend Mark Helmick told News4.
Investigators still don't know what caused the accident.
